Soul Calibur: The Conflict of Souls
by godofmadness43
Summary: Me and my friends are sucked into the Soul Calibur world. Now we must fight, team up, and survive if we are to return home. But we soon discover some new enemies that threaten both worlds. R&R plz, Rated T for violence and stuff that will happen later on.
1. Prologue

**Hey everyone! I'd like to welcome you to my newest Fanfiction: Soul Calibur: The Conflict of Souls! *Applause* Thank you, thank you. Now before anyone asks, i was working on an Okami story, but i've been neglecting it and I'll probably discontinue it. so this i'll definately work on. So without further aduie, here it is! Oh and plz review!**

**I do NOT own Soul Calibur in any way...if i did, i'd make an Anime out of it. I do own me, and my friends, and any future OC's i'll add later.**

**---**

**Soul Calibur: The Conflict of Souls**

**Prologue: Beginning**

In a school located in the Poconos, a group of people were busy in front of a TV.

"Come on man, come on…" one grunted.

"Taste my butt," his opponent said as Yoda flipped around Siegfried and smashed him to the ground with his butt.

"No fucking way am I letting you win," the first player growled as he began to do a combo, unfortunately he still lost to the Yoda player.

"No! God damn it no!" the first yelled.

"Calm down Mark," a spectator said to the boy, who was identified as Mark. Mark sighed and kept his temper from flaring up again, "Sorry Joe, I get like that sometimes," Mark said.

"More like all the time…" Mark's opponent said.

"Shut up Jake!" Mark yelled.

"Calm down Mark" Joe said to him. Mark sighed heavily as another person was now fighting Jake in Soul Calibur 4. Just then the Xbox 360 suddenly shut down in mid-match.

"What the heck?!" Jake yelled as he looked at his console.

"Dude I think it's busted," Mark said.

"Impossible, I cleaned this thing, there's no way it could have red ring," Jake said. While most of the spectators were talking, Mark was busy wandering around the room, thinking to himself like he always did, he preferred to think to himself and be alone, but deep down, he also liked companionship.

"Yo Mark!" a voice said. Mark looked and spotted three of his friends, Zack, Scott, and Tom.

"'sup guys, mind telling me how you guys got here…and past Kat?" Mark asked motioning to their club leader by the door.

"Gave her money and she let us in," Zack said. Mark sighed, why did they have to make that rule with people having to pay for stuff? Still the club did make money. Mark looked at his friend Joe, who was sitting on a chair with crutches next to him as he watched the others tinkering with the 360. Joe was a cool guy and one of Mark's friends, as were most of the others in the club and school.

"Huh? What the hell?" he heard someone ask. Mark turned and noticed the ring around the 360 wasn't flashing red, but blue.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Tom asked.

"Nope, either this thing's busted or something's going on," Mark said. Mark suddenly felt a presence in his mind as images flashed in his head for a brief moment before they vanished. Mark shook his head as he felt the presence fade away.

"…Mark, you okay?" Joe asked.

"y-yeah, I need to sit down," Mark said and sat down.

_You…_

Mark gasped from the woman's voice.

_You are the ones…_

Suddenly a bright light appeared and suddenly engulfed the people in the room.

"AHHHHHH!" Mark yelled.

"WHHHOOOAAA!" Joe yelled.

"HOLY SHIT!!!" Zach yelled.

When the light faded, Mark, Joe, Zach, Scott and Tom were gone. "Where'd they go?" someone in the room asked. Jake was also confused, they saw the 360 die down and text appeared on the screen.

_The five heroes have been chosen… a new conflict has begun…_

_---_

**Yeah, it's short, but that'll mean the real story will begin! Basically, me and my friends are now in Soul Calibur, will we survive? Well..you'll find out in the next chappie, till then, i'm GOM43, Peace Out!**


	2. Waking Up

**Hello again! Here's the first chapter...or second if you count the Prologue as the first Chapter...anyway, this is where the story will start to get more exciting! Aaaaand here we go!**

**Disclaimer: Again, i do not own Soul Calibur, if i did, i'd add more selection for Character Customization...and make it into an Anime.**

**---**

***D-man Opening 1 "Innocent Sorrow" starts playing***

**Chapter 1: Waking Up**

_A crystal sword was before him, the entire blade looked like it was made of crystal with a blue sapphire gem at the center were the hilt was. The sword was both beautiful to behold, and the power he felt from it sent chills down his body. he also felt...strange...lighter...like all the negative feelings he had were gone..._

"You…you're the one that I have summoned…" _the woman's voice said._ _Mark looked around but there was nothing there but darkness, the sword was the only thing there._

"Did…did you speak to me?" _he asked it._

"Yes…but there isn't enough time to speak, you have a long journey ahead of you, good luck," _the sword said before it disappeared._

"Hey! I still have to ask you something!" _Mark called before he felt light-headed and blacked out._

---

Mark was starting to regain consciousness to find himself wrapped in some sort of blanket. He was starting to open his eyes and get up, but he felt something stop him.

"Don't move, your injuries haven't recovered," a girl's voice said.

Mark stopped when he realized whose voice it was. _'No way, it can't be…'_ he thought as his head turned to the speaker. Mark's face began to turn red when he saw the person before him. The person before Mark was a girl, a girl he was all too familiar with. Mark looked directly at the soft brown eyes, the black hair that was tied in two pigtails and had a hat on it, the girl before Mark was Talim (in her Soul Calibur 4 outfit). Mark looked at Talim as the girl gave him a curious look.

"Um...why is your face all red?" Talim asked. Mark felt his face get hotter and looked away so she couldn't see.

"N-Nothing, it's just I…never suspected someone like you being…here…" Mark trailed off as soon as he realized where they were. They were in a lush forest, more specifically they were in a clearing, the sun was shining down on them and birds were chirping as well.

"Quick question: Where the hell am I, and how long have I been out cold?" Mark asked Talim.

"You sort of fell out of the sky from a strange portal…" Talim began.

**Flashback**

_Talim was walking down a path on her quest to destroy Soul Edge. She gazed at the Tower in the distance and suddenly she felt the wind's cries, but this time it was different. She looked up at the sky and suddenly saw lightning sparking in the sky. Suddenly a hole appeared in the sky and Talim saw someone falling from the hole into the forest in front of her._

_Talim rushed to the forest in time to see the thing hit dozens of tree branches as it fell to the ground. She cringed when she heard him land heavily onto the ground. "Ow, son of a bitch that hurt…" the boy muttered before he collapsed. She carefully walked towards the creature and gasped. It was a boy; the boy had chiseled features and a prominent chin with a goatee and a moustache on his upper lip. His shaggy black hair had leaves and some twigs in it, he was also wearing some strange glass things over his eyes, and Talim had seen these on some people, glasses, from what she heard. _

_He was also wearing strange clothes, clothes Talim has never seen before. _'He must be foreign'_ Talim thought. She noticed his pale-tanned skin was covered with some scars from falling and his dark blue pants had some tears in them. Talim noticed something hanging from the top of the jacket the boy had and pulled the zipper down, revealing a shirt underneath that had the image of three wolves howling and a moon in the corner. The shirt was also torn in some spots from the fall. Talim held her hands over one of the cuts and some wind gathered on her palm, closing the cut._

_Talim did this for a few minutes until most of the scratches were gone. She looked at the boy without his jacket and saw that the boy had strange marks on his arms, Talim wondered if they were burns or something else. She zipped up the jacket and took out a blanket from her pack and put it on the boy. She looked at the boy, noting his long sideburns and his somewhat wolfish appearance, this boy was definitely a foreigner. _'The wind around this boy…it's so strange…it's wild, untamed, hmm…' _Talim thought._

**End Flashback**

"…And that's what happened," Talim finished. Mark finished listening to Talim's story; maybe he should tell her that she's from another world, but then again it would be kinda freaky for her and might deem him weird, as if he's not weird enough.

"Tell me, you're not from here are you?" Talim asked him. Mark was surprised by this and hesitated, should he tell her that she's from another world and everything about it? No, too risky.

"Uh…well…y-y-you see I'm…" Mark stuttered.

"If you don't want to tell me, that's okay, I understand if you don't want to talk about it," Talim said.

Mark sighed a little with relief, "So…um…you never told me your name," Mark said.

"Oh, it's Talim," Talim said.

"Talim…nice name, mine's Mark," Mark said and gave her his hand. Talim took his hand and shook it a smile appearing on both of their faces.

"So…tell me, are there others like you?" Talim asked him. Mark suddenly remembered about Joe and Jake and that last guy who must've been brought to this world by Soul Calibur.

"Oh man, the guys! Hope they're okay," Mark said. Talim looked at him and smiled, "don't worry, I'm sure they'll be fine," Talim said, trying to ease his fear of his friends.

"I hope so too…" Mark muttered as he followed Talim into the strange world.

---

Joe began to open his eyes as they began to focus on his surroundings. He was in a strange place, but he had trouble understanding where he was, but judging by the mist, the sounds of wildlife, and the trees, it looked like a swamp.

"Where am I?" Joe wondered until he noticed something in front of him. The "thing" was knee high, had shriveled green skin, white hair, wore a beige cloak and was leaning on a walking stick.

"Shocked you seem by me, hmm?" the shriveled green creature asked. Joe was shocked since he was staring Master Yoda, one of the Jedi masters in the face.

"Y-You're real!" Joe said with shock.

Yoda looked at Joe and hummed again, "The fall you had, damage your mind it has…hmm…the mind is closed, unaware of the Force…wish to return home you want, yes?" Yoda asked. Joe nodded, "Come, I sense a strong evil, no doubt it shall lead you to your friends, come," Yoda motioned with his hand. Joe got up, wincing a bit from the pain in his leg.

"Troubled your leg is, best to rest it you must, but strong in the Force you are, use it to levitate yourself, ease your leg," Yoda told him. Joe looked at Yoda with a confused look, "Um…how?" he asked.

Yoda sighed, "Hmm, concentrate you must, let the Force flow through you, concentrate it towards your feet," Yoda said to him. Joe nodded and concentrated on what Yoda said. Suddenly he felt lighter and looked to see that his feet were slowly rising until he was hovering above the ground.

"Whoa, cool!" Joe said.

"Yes, come, train you we must," Yoda said as he and Joe began to walk through the swamp.

---

Zach moaned as his eyes opened, "Ow, god damn that hurt…where am I?" he asked groggily. He felt something poke his face.

"Well what do you know, he's alive," a male's voice said.

"Kilik, stop poking him like that," a woman's voice responded. Zach looked up and saw a man with brown hair that seemed to spike up a bit, wearing some blue and gold trimmed robes that looks like that of a monk and had a staff which was poking Zack's face. Standing next to the kneeling Kilik was a woman wearing a white and blue trimmed open jacket and a white and blue blouse underneath, she also had short shorts and carried a jian sword on her hip.

"Uh…what?" Zach asked with some confusion.

"Seems like you got knocked on your head pretty hard, we found you by the side of the rode after a weird lightshow in the sky," Kilik said.

"Lightshow? What do you…wait…oh man, if I got here then that must mean that Mark and his friends might be here as well," Zach realized.

"Mark? Who's he?" Xianghua asked with a curious look on her face.

"A friend of mine whose friends were also pulled here…they're probably out there somewhere…" Zach said as he looked into the distance. Kilik and Xianghua looked at each other then at Zach, noting his strange clothes he had.

"You're not from here are you?" Kilik asked Zach.

"Nope, I'm from America…" Zach paused and thought about it, he didn't want them to know he was from the future. "What year is it?" Zach asked. "June eighteenth fifteen ninety one, why?" Kilik asked. Zach was surprised by this statement; he ended up in the past! And that means whatever he did would change his future.

"Kid? He-ey kid?" Kilik asked as he poked him with his staff and watched Zach tip over.

"Looks like you're carrying him Kilik!" Xianghua said and winked at Kilik. Kilik looked at her with surprise, "Me?" he asked as Xianghua was walking away.

"Come on slow poke!" Xianghua called. Kilik sighed and picked up Zach and carried him, along with most of their supplies, with them.

"I. Hate. Her…" Kilik grumbled as they continued down the road.

---

Scott opened his eyes and found himself in some sort of cave–like structure; he then noticed his legs were tied up as well as his body. He then heard a hissing sound and suddenly saw a man with a cloth over his eyes and mouth as well as a mask and a weird garb. Scott didn't say anything but soon the man pointed to the cave entrance, as if asking him a question like: 'where are you from?'

"You're asking where I was from. Well I kinda came in here by accident," Scott said to Voldo. Voldo let out a hiss and nodded then moved towards his weapons and put them on, then pointed to the entrance of the cave and seemed to usher him to follow. _'If I follow him, he might lead me to the others,'_ Scott thought and decided to follow Voldo.

---

Tom opened his eyes to discover that he was sleeping on a mattress made of silk. "Huh? When did I get here?" he asked. He looked around the room, noticing that some of the stuff looks rather…old, like 15th century old. He heard a door open and saw a woman wearing a maid's outfit…and carried a scythe on her back.

"Good you're awake," the maid said and poked her head out of the door. "Master Raphael, the boy has awoken!" she called down the hallway. The door closed and a few minutes later opened. A man stepped inside, he had light blonde hair, wore a black outfit that looked European and next to him was a girl with curly red hair and her dress had some scratches on it, it looked like those Lolita dresses from France in the 16th century or something, maybe older.

"So, you've finally woken," Raphael said.

"Wait, who are you?" Tom asked.

"I suggest you refer to me as Raphael, and next to me is my beloved Amy," Raphael said.

"Our servants found you unconscious outside and brought you inside to recover," Amy said to Tom in a somewhat gloomy tone.

"Tell me, your clothes, you are a foreigner aren't you?" Raphael asked. Tom hesitated from this, should he tell him he's not from this era?

"Well?" Raphael asked.

"Hmm…well I'm not actually from this place exactly, long story, don't want to talk about it," Tom said. Raphael shrugged, "Fair enough, but we must do something about those dreadful clothes, and they're so filthy!" Raphael said. Tom looked at his clothes and noticed his they were torn and ragged from his trip.

"Come with us and we'll get you some suitable clothing," Raphael said and walked out of the room with Amy following. Tom sighed and got up as well, deciding to get some clothes so he could not draw suspicion to himself, plus to replace his damaged clothes.

---

**And so ends the beginning of the adventure! Each of the chaps will be split up for now for each character...for now...anyway. I'll refer Joseph by "Joe" but i'll later change it, you'll see. Anyway, what will happen to our heroes now that they have met their new conpanions? Stay Tuned to find out!**


	3. New Threads and a Heartfelt Chat

**Hey everyone, and i'd like to present the third chapter in my Soul Calibur story! Here's where some things about us are shown...are rather me...anyway, enjoy! and R&r plz!**

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**Chapter 2: New Threads and a Heartfelt chat**

_Mark's POV_

Okay, so for a brief recap: My friends and I were playing Soul Calibur 4 when we were suddenly pulled into the game. I also saw Soul Calibur in person, woke up to find myself in a forest, met Talim (man, she really has gotten hotter in 4), and we're now traveling together. She had told me the date was 1591, so she would be my age…sweet. But then that means me and the guys were brought back, like 400 years into the past, and looks like if we're going to try and get back home, we'll have to find each other and try to get Soul Calibur and Soul Edge to get back home. Anyway back to matters at hand, so some of my clothes are torn to pieces and I should get some new ones…but I don't have any money on me, and I doubt Talim has any either.

While I was thinking I began to wonder if I could ever return home…then I thought against it and decided to think about it when the time comes. But my main problem was my clothes, how the heck was I going to be able to get some new threads? If only Soul Calibur could've gotten me some new clothes during my travel back in time. That's when I suddenly began to notice my clothes were changing, they were glowing and suddenly they where reforming, even Talim was surprised by this.

When the light faded, my clothes were completely different. I looked and saw my pants were no longer jeans, but they looked like dueler breeches. I looked around for something to see how I look and soon found a small pond in which I looked at my reflection. I was wearing the Dueler's outfit I made for my custom character.

My jacket was a crimson color, the collar was black and the design on the collar was white, the belt sash was a dark brown, the metal was a black color with a dull gold part. The belt was the same color as the sash with the metal part being black. The breeches were also dark brown and the boots were black. I looked at my hands and saw they had gauntlets that were black, crimson and gold edged. I looked at my hip and saw that there was a katana on the belt.

I looked at the katana and unsheathed it a bit to look at the metal, it looked like it was just made too, and it was also a reverse-blade sword. I turned to Talim and looked at her, "so…what do you think?" I asked her with a grin on my face. I saw her face was turning a little crimson and she was looking away, trying to hide it.

"You…you look good," she said. I smiled from seeing her blush and looked at my katana, "Man, at least I have some clothes…but…" I glanced uneasily at my katana, "I'm not much of a fighter though…" I said. Talim looked at me questioningly, "You're not a fighter?"She asked.

"I'm kind of a pacifist to be honest, I can't kill a fly even if I wanted too," I admitted. Talim smiled softly, "Your face has the look of a killer, but your heart is gentle inside…" she said. I felt the heat rush to my face because of this and turned around so she couldn't see me.

"Well, since you have some new clothes, let's get going," Talim said. I nodded the heat now gone from my face, and followed Talim down the trail to where I saw a city in the distance.

"So, tell me about yourself," Talim asked me.

"Well, I love to write stories and read novels, I'm not much of an athlete yet I try my best in gym, but I'm more of a guy who just sits around and does nothing," I chuckled. Talim giggled, "I suspected as much, so, do you have any friends?" she asked. I was going to answer that, but paused, I only had some friends, some were good friends, while most were just jerks who wanted me gone…no one cared about me, my parents did, but they were rarely home.

"I only have some friends…everyone else…they just hate me," I said.

"I'm sorry about that…" Talim said sadly. I looked at her, "its cool, they must be happy I'm gone…" I said as I walked ahead of her.

"Won't…won't anyone miss you?" Talim asked before I got out of earshot. I paused, looking for the right words to say, I soon found them.

"…No one would miss me…" I said in a low voice that nearly sounded like a mutter. The wind then blew and caused my jacket to flap a little, those words I said, that practically spelt out what I thought of my home…no one would miss me…no one would mind it. I felt a warm hand over my cold one and looked at Talim, who soon smiled at me.

"Come on, it's starting to get late, let's head into the town before the sun sets," Talim said and ran ahead. I sighed and followed her, forgetting about what occurred a few minutes ago.

---

Zach wondered about what to do with his clothes, although maybe he could keep them, but people might get suspicious about them, plus he needed a weapon. Zach had woken up a while ago and was now walking alongside Kilik and Xianghua.

"You know, you're going to need a weapon to fight with," Kilik said.

"You're right, got any of those staves you have?" Zach asked him.

Kilik gave him a grin, "well, on most accounts this staff I hold is my main weapon, but I sometimes get some other staves to test my skills, you can use one of these," Kilik said as he dug around his pack and soon tossed a Bo staff that was black and Zach caught it.

"Cool!" he said as he twirled the staff in between his fingers.

"That staff was one of the first I had gotten when I was younger," Kilik said proudly.

"You're full of it Kilik," Xianghua chuckled. Kilik face-faulted from this, "Oh like you care Xianghua!" he yelled at her. The two got into an argument while Zach watched on with a grin on his face, not even noticing his clothes changing. Kilik and Xianghua had stopped their fighting and noticed Zach's clothes were changing. Zach was now wearing a dark green sleeved, gold trimmed white Vagrant's Haori, a similar colored Hakama and gloves, and also Waraji to complete the outfit.

"Whoa, this is awesome!" Zach said as he looked over his new clothes.

"You look like a warrior with those," Kilik said. Zach grinned as he put the Bo staff on his back, admiring his new clothes.

"Well now that we've gotten the clothes business done, we should get going and find your friends," Kilik said and handed some of the equipment to Zach, "You're helping me carry, this," he said. Zach shrugged and helped carry the equipment with Kilik.

---

Joe was walking with Master Yoda through the swamp, the smell of the bog was starting to get to Joe but he held firm.

"Friends you say you have, but scattered they are in this world, find them we must," Yoda said.

"Yeah, but I don't think we can, Mark can't fight to save his life, and I don't know about the others, if anything we must find Mark first," Joe said. Yoda closed his eyes and began to concentrate on where they could find Mark. He sensed the animals in the area, and then tried to sense something out of the ordinary. He soon sensed the two malevolent powers of the soul swords, and then he sensed something else. He sensed a pair of two and soon saw a young girl traveling with a young man that fit Joe's description of Mark, only in different clothes.

"Found him I have, with a friend he is," Yoda told him. Joe sighed a bit, "Good, anything else?" Joe asked. Yoda concentrated again, "Yes, anger I sense in him, but suppressing it he is doing," Yoda said. Joe began to think, Mark was known to be angered easily, but he couldn't really lose it, only yell sometimes, but since they were here now, with weapons, Joe wondered how long till he loses control of his anger.

"His anger is immense, but control over it he has, he shall be fine, come," Yoda ushered Joseph forward and they continued walking.

"Amazing, this world is," Yoda mumbled as he looked at the landscape.

"Yeah…" Joe said a little amazed as well from the scenery. In the future the pollution, wars, natural disasters, and many other things make it somewhat hostile, but here, it's beautiful.

"Hmm, come, hurry we must to reach your friends," Yoda said as the two continued north, ahead of the marsh was a desert, which was where they were heading.

---

Tom was busy being fitted into a set of traveler's clothes Raphael seemed to have with him. The clothes were a black color that had matching cloth pants and boots, including a rapier on the side.

"Hmm…I suppose this'll do for now," Raphael said as he looked over Tom's outfit. Tom soon had a black cloak draped over his shoulder and looked at Amy, who was the one who put the cloak on him.

"It suits you very much," she said.

Tom nodded, "Thanks," he said to her. Tom looked over his clothes in a mirror, and he kinda liked his new clothes. He wore a black commoner's shirt, pants, and…well, the cloak, and all of it was black and had a mix of dark blue. Tom had to admit, the clothes were pretty good, and his old clothes were torn up when he arrived through…whatever it was that brought him here.

"Well, now that you have some new clothing we can get started," Raphael said and turned.

"What are you looking for anyway?" Tom asked.

"Power…the power of Soul Edge, so I can create a world for Amy and me!" Raphael said as he balled his hand into a fist and held it mightily. Tom sweat dropped from that proclamation but suddenly thought of something. _'Soul Edge? Isn't it that sword that is evil from the Soul Calibur game Mark kept telling us about? Oh shit it is! Hmm…if Soul Edge has the powers I think it has, maybe I can use that to get back home,'_ Tom thought.

"It appears you're thinking of obtaining power as well, then we both share an equal goal, if you join us, I promise you can have a seat of power in our new world," Raphael said.

"Hmm…ruler of a new world…I like that…I like that very much," Tom said with a grin. Of course he was lying, he needed to find the guys and get the hell out of here before he, or the others, got themselves killed.

"Very well, come on, we're heading to Ostrheinsburg," Raphael said. Tom was confused; he heard that name somewhere before, but where?

"Ostrheinsburg…sounds familiar," Tom muttered.

"It was the place where I fought Nightmare for Soul Edge, but also brought back Siegfried from Soul Edge's influence, but that's beside the point," Raphael said. Tom shrugged, but now he understood, if anything this Ostrheinsburg place is probably where the others will go to.

"Well? Come on!" Raphael said to Tom, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Right," he nodded and followed the group out of the castle and towards their adventure.

---

Scott followed Voldo out of the cavern/dungeon and was nearly blinded by the light. He soon saw around him was ocean and realized he was on an island.

"How the hell am I going to find my friends?" Scott asked Voldo. Voldo hissed and pointed to a boat in the dock, which was the last thing Scott saw before something hit him on the back of the head and he got knocked out.

Voldo turned, sensing his friend was out cold, he suddenly felt something pierce his stomach and immediately sensed the power was the same as Soul Edge, but…different…more…evil. Voldo soon saw the image of his master before him, offering his hand.

_"Voldo…"_ he said as he disappeared. Voldo stretched out his hand but soon he fell limp onto the ground, the last thought he had was of his master extending out his hand for him.

---

The man looked at Voldo as he died and turned to Scott, whom he knocked out from behind. He chuckled darkly as he picked up Scott and opened a portal made of darkness and walked through it with Scott. Scott had managed to regain consciousness for a few moments in order to see a face obscured by a black helmet before blacking out.

---

**Well, the rest of us (minus Scott and Joseph) get new threads, and Scott is knocked out by some guy in a helmet, who is he? And will Scott be okay? Stay tuned for the next chapter! R&R plz!**


	4. First Fight Part 1

**Hey everyone! And here's the Third chappie i promised (due to the continued asking of my friend Joe), this one is split into two parts, since it'll be easier, plus some characters will probably die here. Anyway, R&R plz!**

**---**

**Chapter 3: First Fight (Part 1)**

_Back with Mark_

"…So anyway, he soon walks behind a tree, grabs it by both sides and lifts it off the ground with his bare hands and topples it like it was nothing," Mark finished telling his story to Talim as they walked.

Talim giggled cutely from Mark's story, "Wow, he seems so strong to be able to do that," she said.

"Yeah…that was a good moment…" Mark said with a grin. Mark was telling Talim of a scene from an episode of "Ed, Edd n' Eddy" where Rolf was fighting Eddy with a fish, he told her about how Rolf made the arena of their battle.

"You're culture is strange, but funny as well," Talim said with a little smile on her face. Mark grinned, he kinda let it slip he was from the future a while ago when Talim asked what was his home like. He was surprised that Talim took it rather well and so he decided to tell him about his time period. He told her about the many things that affected his era, war, racism, poverty, etc. Talim was disheartened by the fact it would all occur and how corrupt some people where.

"And that's why mostly everyone is trying their best for the planet, as a way to atone for what we did to it," Mark told her a little shaken by what he said, but it was the truth…a truth he wish he never learned.

"Then I'm glad I live here instead of your time…it sounds horrible," Talim said sadly.

"It is…that's why I liked the past more than the future, I mean, before the whole world war thing," Mark said with a little chuckle. Talim smiled softly, "Yes, I bet you would…" she soon trailed off when she thought she saw someone familiar to her in the distance.

"Talim, something wrong?" Mark asked. Talim looked more closely at who was in the distance and soon recognized who it was.

"Mi-na!" she called out to the girl and ran to the girl she knew from a while ago, with Mark cocking an eyebrow but soon following her.

---

Seong Mi-na was busy walking to the town ahead of her when she heard someone call out her name. She looked and saw Talim, an old friend of hers, running towards her waving her hand with a smile on her face, behind her was a young man around her age but with a moustache and a bit of a goatee.

"Talim!" she said and the two hugged each other.

"Mi-na, it's been so long since we last met, how are you?" Talim asked her friend.

"I've been fine, but who's your friend?" Mi-na asked as soon as Mark came, panting heavily.

"Oh, this is Mark, he's a new friend I just met recently," Talim said.

Mark simply raised a hand from his panting position, "Hey *pant pant* how's it *pant* going? *pant pant* give…give me a few minutes," Mark panted as he was regaining his composure. He soon got his composure back and sighed again, "Sorry about that, anyway, name's Mark," he said and shook Mi-na's hand.

"Mark…strange name, you're foreign aren't you?" Mi-na asked. Mark sighed and Talim helped him explain why he was here and if Mi-na saw any of his friends.

"Sorry, I don't think I would've met any of them, but I can't believe you're from the future!" Mi-na said with surprise as the three walked towards the town.

"Not so loud, don't want others to know," Mark whispered as they passed by some people.

"Sorry," she apologized, "Anyway, I'm looking for someone too," Mi-na said.

"It's Yun Seong isn't it?" Talim asked without hesitation.

Seong Mi-na nodded and sighed, "Yep, sometimes I can't keep track of him," she muttered.

"I think I heard of him, hot-blooded, wears a bandana on his head, no shirt, and has a Dao for a weapon?" Mark asked Mi-na.

"Wow, that's correct, guess you are from the future to know that well," Mi-na said.

"Well," Mark chuckled, "I don't want to brag but I'm very smart for a sixteen year old," Mark said.

Mi-na gave him a confused look, "You're sixteen?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't be fooled by the moustache and goatee," Mark replied.

Mi-na grinned and grinned a little at Talim, "He's all yours," she whispered to her. Talim began to blush red from that statement but she was going to retort when Mark called, "Oi! Hurry up ladies!" he said front ahead of them. Mi-na and Talim nodded at each other, both agreeing to finish the discussion in private, and rushed to Mark.

"So what now?" Talim asked Mark. He shrugged, "Don't know, but I bet something's going to happen, I just know it," Mark replied. As if by fate, they heard screaming and saw people running away from something. The three soon saw someone running before being pounced on by a Lizardman and torn apart.

"Oh my God!" Mark yelled upon seeing this, although he was enjoying it, it was still so wrong. The Lizardman soon stopped eating the corpse and saw them, made a loud roar, and soon two more Lizardmen, one red and another dark blue, accompanied the light green Lizardman. The three each had a shield and an axe for a weapon and they looked at Mark, Talim, and Seong Mi-na with hungry looks.

"Um…I think we should, RUN!" Mark yelled and turned around to start running.

"Wait, you're going to run and hide like a coward?" Mi-na asked him.

"Yeah that's basically it," Mark replied.

Mi-na sighed, "To think I thought you were a warrior," she sighed.

"I rarely leave my own home, except for school and sometimes to go to a friend's place, other than that, I'm mainly home," Mark replied.

Mi-na sighed and looked at Talim, who just shrugged but noticed the Lizardmen cocking their heads curiously.

"Maybe we should teach Mark the basics?" Talim inquired.

Seong Mina grinned, "Good idea Talim, "she said and grabbed Mark by the collar and held him there. "Alright, today's your first day of training, you gotta kill those lizard freaks over there, if you live, then you pass, if not…well you know," Mina said.

"What the fuck?! You're just going to throw me to the wolves?" Mark asked with shock.

"That's basically it!" Mi-na said and threw Mark so far that he crashed into a Lizardman and the two were sent flying into the side of a building.

"Umm Mi-na, you really didn't have to throw him that far," Talim said with a sweat drop.

"I know, but this is the only way for him to learn how to fight, plus we can cut loose without much worry for him," Mi-na said as she brandished her zanbatou. Talim sighed a little, "Wind, please keep him safe…" she muttered as she brandished her bladed tonfas and the two remaining Lizardmen charged at the girls.

---

**Meanwhile, back with Mark, who was thrown into a building by Seong Mi-na…**

Mark groaned and rubbed the side of his head, "Ow…that crazy ass bitch, remind me to seriously…ah fuck it," Mark muttered as he soon saw the Lizardman rising up from the rubble and glare his red eyes at Mark. "…Shit…" he said and dodged an attack by the Lizardman. He dodged some more attacks by the Lizardman and tied to unsheathe his katana, but he soon saw it wasn't on his hip anymore!

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled as he dodged for dear life trying to survive. _'Where the hell's my sword?!' _Mark thought as he frantically looked around for it. He managed to dodge and attack by that Lizardman and rolled away from it, soon discovering his sword right next to him. He quickly unsheathed it and took a stance as the Lizardman charged at him. He blocked the Lizardman's slash and countered with one of his own, but the Lizardman blocked it with his shield and pushed Mark back.

Mark grunted as he was flung back and hit a wall, he panted as the Lizardman charged at him, pouncing on him and causing the two to tumble out of the building and into the alley. Mark kicked the Lizardman off him and ran out the alley into the open, but the Lizardman was persistent and charged from the rooftops. Mark managed to parry the Lizardman's attack and kicked him in the stomach, then slashed at him, managing to cut his shoulder.

'_Hang on, I couldn't fight to save my life, yet here I am fighting a Lizardman and holding my ground,' _Mark thought. He soon snapped out of his trance because the Lizardman managed to cut his shoulder. Mark skidded back and held a hand over the cut, "Lucky shot…" he muttered as he looked at the blood on his left hand. "Damn," Mark hissed and snapped his fingers.

As soon as he snapped his fingers a jet of flame shot out of nowhere and separated Mark and the Lizardman before dying out. Mark, wide-eyed, looked at his fingers then the Lizardman. He soon began to grin and looked at the Lizardman, "You're in trouble now bitch," he said and snapped his fingers again.

A jet of flames appeared from his fingers and shot at the Lizardman, who managed to doge the attack, but as soon as he turned he was immediately cooked by another torrent of flames sent by Mark when he wasn't looking. Mark grinned as he saw the smoldering burnt remains of the Lizardman he fought. He sniffed and soon fanned his face, "Holy shit! Now I know what burnt lizard smells like," he said and coughed.

He soon saw Talim and Seong Mi-na running towards him, blood staining their clothes, showing they killed the other two Lizardmen. They soon saw the burnt corpse of the Lizardman and looked at Mark.

"What happened?" Talim asked.

"Let's just say the Lizardman became a guinea pig for a new power I just got," Mark said with a weak smirk. Talim noticed the cut on Mark's shoulder and rushed to his side, "Easy, let me see it," Talim said soothingly to him. Mark winced and removed his hand covering the cut, "It burns like hell," he said.

"Hmm, it's not too deep, but you lost some blood, hang on," Talim said. She held her hand over the scar, but allowed some air to pass through. "Wind, please heal this scar," Talim prayed softly. Mark saw the air rush to the scar and suddenly close it shut.

"Wow…I thought Wind was used for speed and agility," Mark muttered when he saw the hole closed.

"It is, but I can also use it for healing as well, thanks to my practices," Talim replied with a smile.

Mark smiled a little then looked at his fingers, expecting some burns from the flames, surprisingly there were none; in fact, there wasn't even any sign of burns from the fire. The three heard a gurgling sound and saw, to their surprise, the Lizardman that Mark burnt was trying to get up. Mark snapped his fingers and the Lizardman was burnt again, this time to ashes.

"That takes care of…oh come on!" Mark yelled when he saw around 30 Lizardmen appear out of nowhere and they started to come closer.

"Looks like we got some work to do," Seong Mi-na said as she brandished her weapon.

"Let's see who can get the most kills out of the three of us," Mark said as he pulled out his katana. The Lizardmen charged at the three and Mark snapped his fingers, sending the torrent of flames that destroyed the first Lizardman directly at them…

* * *

Joe was now walking through a dune with Master Yoda, as the blazing sun beaded down on them.

"Ugh…it's so hot…" Joe whined from the heat.

"Sense much power from this desert, someone approaches," Yoda said. Joe looked and they saw someone coming in their direction. Joe couldn't really see what the man looked like, but he did look male from the faint outline. As the person got closer Joe saw it was a man, but for some reason he was garbed entirely in black.

Joe saw what looked like a red and black bodysuit with the hands having long nails and red lines tracing his abdomen and he had a black helmet (kinda like Vanitas's helmet) on his head.

"Who are you?" Joe asked the man. The man didn't say anything, but pointed to some old ruins in the distance. Joe looked at the ruins but as he turned to the man he saw he was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Joe wondered. Yoda didn't say anything, but was more focused on that man from a few moments ago. _'Much darkness I sensed in him, hmm…'_ Yoda thought. He turned to Joe and nodded, "The ruins we must go to, protect us from the sun, answers we seek are also there," He replied. Joe nodded, although understanding some of what Yoda said, and followed the Jedi Master to the ruins.

--

"Whoa…" Joe said once he saw the old Egyptian Ruins. It was basically a large set of ruins with sand coming out of the cracks and crevices of the pillars and stone buildings. There was even a large statue of a pharaoh behind some gangplanks that were used for the excavation.

"Man, wonder where all the workers are?" Joe muttered as he and Yoda walked through the ruins. Suddenly, Yoda sensed the same darkness from before and looked up, as did Joe and saw the same man from before sitting on top of a stone wall.

"Well, you two sure took your time," the man said in a voice very familiar with Joe, only cockier and more smug.

"Mark? Is that you?" Joe asked him.

"Mark? Don't confuse me with that weakling," the man said and jumped down in front of them. "My name is Thanatos, and I've been sent by my master to test your skills, as well as your companions," Thanatos said to Joe.

"Companions? Wait, you've seen them?" Joe asked Thanatos.

"We have that Scott guy you were with back home," Thanatos replied. "Don't know about the other two but Mark's a real case here, seems my master wants him, but more on that later, anyway, I wanna see if you're a good choice for my master," Thanatos said and extended his hand to the side.

"Come forth, Diablo XIII!" Thanatos yelled. When he said this, a cloud of black smoke appeared and soon he gripped it and it transformed into a sword. The sword was a large Zwiehander that was black and had a red edge to it. It also had a weird insignia to it, it looked like an eye traced in red, not only that, but the red lines on the sword were moving, and the scent in the air smelled like…blood…

Joe sensed the malicious intent in Thanatos's sword and looked around for a weapon.

"Well? Summon your sword!" Thanatos said.

"I don't know how!" Joe replied. Thanatos sighed and shook his head, muttering something that sounded like, 'and you're supposed to be…' before he looked at Joseph.

"Extend your hand and call out the name of your sword," he said. Joe looked at his hand and extended it, feeling a strange surge of power that coursed through it. He held out his palm and his eyebrows burrowed.

"Come forth, Brionac!" he said and made a sweeping motion with his hand, instantly a sword of light appeared in his hand and the light began to disperse, revealing a sword, or a Zwiehander to be exact. The Zwiehander was around Joseph's body length; it was light red and looked like it had fire emblazoned on it.

"Whoa…" Joseph said as he marveled at Brionac. Thanatos smirked, _'Guess he was right after all…'_ he thought and pointed his sword at Joseph.

"Oi! Get ready to fight!" Thanatos said to the two. Yoda and Joseph both got into their battle stances as Thanatos charged at them. Joseph blocked Thanatos's attacks with Brionac while Yoda used the Force to cause some blocks of stone to rise and fly at Thanatos. Yoda expected Thanatos to be hit, but he was surprised when he cut one stone block in two and simply smashed his fist against another, causing it to break into tiny pieces.

Thanatos didn't waste any time in countering and soon flew at Yoda with inhuman speeds and slashed Diablo XIII at him, Yoda managed to dodge the attack and jumped at Thanatos, swinging his lightsaber and trying to get Thanatos, but Thanatos blocked it with his sword and Joe was soon attacking Thanatos, but Thanatos kept countering their attacks. After a few minutes…or rather two minutes, Joseph and Yoda were injured and covered in scars, while Thanatos had a few scratches on his person.

"Man, you two are kinda good," Thanatos said. Joseph panted and he and Yoda charged at Thanatos. Joseph slashed as Thanatos but the blades only grinded against each other as Thanatos kicked Joe out of the way and duel Yoda. Yoda blocked Thanatos's attacks and used Force Push to send him flying into a wall. Joseph saw this as a way to attack Thanatos while his guard was down and charged at him, bringing up Brionac in time to stab Thanatos in the chest.

Thanatos coughed but no blood came out of his mouth…um…helmet, whatever. Joe ripped Brionac out of Thanatos as he slumped to the ground and disappeared in black smoke. Joseph panted as Brionac disappeared just like it reappeared and he panted heavily.

"We did it Yoda…" Joe panted as he turned to face Yoda. As he did he heard the sickening sound of a sword rending flesh and his eye widened as he saw Yoda being stabbed from behind by Thanatos, who was reforming through the black smoke.

Joseph could only watch as Thanatos reappeared over the dying Yoda, but he had the scar from where Joseph stabbed him.

"What? Surprised I'm still alive?" Thanatos asked. "It's quite simple; I can't be killed by anyone hands except the one person my master chose," Thanatos explained. "But I'll keep this scar as a reminder to kick your ass later," Thanatos replied as a portal of dark energy appeared behind him.

"I'll be sure to tell your friends you're alive when I see them…oh and head to Five Elements Mountain, your buddy Mark is waiting for you," Thanatos said before he disappeared into the portal. Joseph looked at the open space and then at Yoda's corpse, which was only just his lightsaber on the ground. Joseph picked up and clenched it in his hand.

He heard something and turned around to see people coming out of the ruins, which he suspected they were the workers.

"How long where you there?" Joseph asked.

"Long enough to see the whole fight…sorry about your friend…" the head worker said.

"Yeah…anyone know where Five Elements Mountain is?" Joseph asked.

"It's in the Himalayas, but it's very far and hard to reach, the person on that mountain is an old hermit who was said to master every element, be careful," the lead worker said.

"I will…but I don't know where to find it…or have a partner…" Joseph said.

"I'll be your partner!" a voice called out from the crowd.

Joseph looked and saw someone coming toward him. He saw a young man, around 16, with spiky black hair and black, but not evil looking, eyes. He carries a katana on his back and he's wearing white armor, not heavy armor, but Ninja battle armor and he has pale skin which is strange, since most of the people had tan or sun burnt skin.

"They say he got that from being around Nightmare," someone whispered to Joseph.

"Sosuke? You'll go with him?" the lead worker asked.

"Yes, I'll go with him, I want to see his sword techniques, and maybe learn as well," Sosuke said.

"Alright," the lead worker sighed, "be careful, that Thanatos guy looked pretty powerful," the lead worker responded.

"I will," Sosuke said and turned to Joseph. "So, shall we get going master?" he asked.

"Master?" Joseph repeated.

"Well yeah, I want to learn those moves you did," Sosuke said.

"Well…Yoda did teach me Shingpu…but that's for swords like Brionac," Joseph said as the two began walking.

"I know Mistuagi, that's a style for katanas, and I can control lightning as an element, going to Five Elements Mountain can help us learn more!" Sosuke replied in a serious tone.

"Alright, alright, damn…so, why were you there?" Joseph asked.

"My village was burnt down while I was getting food from another town at the time, when I got back, everyone was gone, since then, I devoted my life to learn the different sword styles so I can find the person who did this and make them pay!" Sosuke said as flame erupted behind him in a dramatic fashion.

'Sheesh, he reminds me of Mark…' Joseph thought.

"So what about you?" Sosuke asked.

"Me? Well…it's a long story," Joseph began.

"We have some time," Sosuke said.

Joseph sighed, "Alright…well, it's like this…" Joseph began...

---

**Yeah, i feel kinda bad for killing Yoda off like that...but the Lizardman thing was good, makes me feel like Roy Mustang from FMA, anyway, Thanatos i own, and Sosuke was an idea from Joe, anyway, stay tuned for Part 2! Again, R&R plz!**


	5. First Fight Part 2

**ANd here's the newest chapter of the Soul Calibur story, and two people are taken out of the story here, but i won't say who. Enjoy!**

**---**

**Chapter 4: First Fight (Part 2)**

Tom was walking with Amy and Raphael along with the servants, to Ostrheinsburg. Tom was glad that they could find it soon. "Alright, we should stop for a break," Raphael said.

"Good, my feet are killing me!" Auguste said and fell to the ground. The others went to find firewood while Raphael and Amy and Tom decided to think this through about how to handle Ostrheinsburg when they got there. It was a few hours later that they began to worry; the servants were taking too long to collect the firewood.

"Something is wrong here…stay here you two," Raphael said and went off into the woods. A few minutes there was the sound of swords in the forest and Tom and Amy both ran to where it was originating. They soon reached the clearing where the fighting was taking place and saw Raphael fighting with someone. The man had black hair that was spiked up and also very long, a scar on his right cheek that ended near his right eye, which both were red.

He was wearing clothes of a noble, much like Raphael, only grayish looking and he was wielding a sword that looked like a katana, but the way the man was holding the sword was strange, it wasn't like anything Tom saw before.

"Damn you, just how strong are you?" Raphael asked.

"Very…" the man replied and swung at Raphael, causing his rapier to fly out of his hands. Tom and Amy watched as the man went past Raphael's defenses and stabbed him in the chest. Amy covered her mouth with her hands as the sword was removed from Raphael's chest and he fell to the ground bleeding.

"RAPHAEL!" Amy yelled and ran over to him while Tom looked at the man.

"Okay dude, I don't know who you are, but you're going to…" Tom stopped when he suddenly saw the corpses of the servants behind the man; they were all hacked, slashed and torn to shreds.

"Hmm…you're not worthy…unlike your other friends…" the man said. Tom suddenly saw the man appear right beside Tom and he felt something ripping through his gut. He coughed and blood came out of his mouth, he soon realized the grim truth just as he felt the cold metal rip out of him. He fell to his knees as everything began to turn grey, then black and white, then…nothing…

--

The man smirked as he looked at Tom's dying body and twirled his sword and stabbed the body again, he heard the faint sigh and grinned.

"Raphael will live…don't bother with the boy…" the man said to Amy, who looked through tear-filled eyes.

"Remember this: Stay out of my way…or suffer like them…" he said and vanished behind a portal of darkness, leaving Amy alone with Raphael and a dead Tom.

Zach, Kilik, and Xianghua were walking through a small village, hoping to rest for the day of traveling…and for Kilik to rest his back.

"So, anyone know of a good place to stay?" Zach asked out of the blue.

"That's why we're looking for one," Kilik said as he cracked his back.

"Hey guys, I found one!" Xianghua called.

"Thank god," both men said and ran, not caring for the heavy load on their backs. They reached the Inn, which was fairly decent, as Xianghua paid for the rooms.

"Well, since you guys took care of all the supplies, I thought I'd repay the favor by booking us some rooms," Xianghua said.

"You're a saint Xianghua," Kilik said as he sat in a chair.

"Man, I'm so beat…" Zach said.

"Well rest up, because tomorrow we need to head out to find your friends, from what I gathered, seems like a town was attacked by some Lizardmen, but they said that a boy who could snap fire from his fingers saved them and were heading to Five Elements Mountain," Xianghua said.

Zach pondered about what Xianghua said, a boy who could snap fire from his fingers…maybe that was Mark! But what about Scott and Tom, what happened to them?

"Hope my friends are okay," Zach sighed.

"Don't worry, I think they are," Kilik said with a hand on Zach's shoulder. Zach nodded until he felt something, like a jab at his heart.

"Zach? What's wrong?" Xianghua asked with concern.

"I…I felt like someone I knew was…gone…" Zach panted. Kilik and Xianghua looked at each other, then at Zach.

"…hey Zach, how about we spar for a bit before dinner?" Kilik asked out of the blue.

"Uh…sure, hey, you got a place we can spar?" Zach asked the Innkeeper.

"There's plenty of room out back, you can use that," the innkeeper said. The two men both went outside while Xianghua decided to watch from the window of her room. She watched the two men take their stances, both mirroring each other, and then attacking. Zach swung his rod but Kilik blocked it and twirled the staff to hit Zach in the back, Zach gasped but managed to turn around to whack Kilik in the back of the head.

'_Aww I wanted to do that…'_ Xianghua thought as he watched the two men fight. She had to admit, Zach was good, maybe better than Kilik…then again. Xianghua cringed after seeing Kilik being hit in the crotch by Zach's metal rod and Zach asking if he was okay, to which Kilik punched him in the gut and the two got into a fist fight. Xianghua giggled. _'Boys will be boys…'_ she thought.

---

Scott was starting to wake up, his head throbbing and his vision blurry. He soon realized he was in some sort of room with a bunch of columns that had torches on them. Scott looked around and noticed a man in a full black colored body suit with a weird red symbol and a scar on his chest leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"About time you got up" the man said. Scott recognized the voice and the figure of the face, "Mark?" he asked.

"No, it's Thanatos, and don't confuse me with that weakling!" Thanatos yelled. Scott definitely recognized the voice to be Mark's…only darker and distorted. Thanatos then placed his helmet back on as a portal opened and the man from before appeared.

"What's up Malgreed?" Thanatos asked casually.

"It appears we've gotten Tom, Zach is out of the question, what about Joseph and Mark?" Malgreed asked.

"Joseph is proceeding to Five Elements Mountain, as is Mark and Talim…hmm" Thanatos hummed.

"What about him?" he asked, gesturing to Scott.

Malgreed looked at Scoot and shrugged, "Send him back, he's no use of us anyway…" he said. Thanatos nodded and snapped his fingers. A portal soon appeared behind Scott and he felt himself being dragged into it. Right before he was consumed by the portal, he caught a glimpse of Thanatos's face and gasped.

"No way you're--" he said before the portal shut. Thanatos smirked under his helmet and resumed his position on the pillar. Outside, a bunch of crows began to fly away from Ostrheinsburg and into the distance.

---

**Well Tom is dead, Zach is alright, and Scott has probably been sent back to our time. Anyway, R&R plz!**


	6. A Long Day

**Not much action in this chappie, it's a little bit of a filler. Anyway, a new character is introduced, and some new things as well.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, if i did, i'd make this story into an anime,because it's that awesome ^^. **

**Anyway R&R plz!**

**---**

**Chapter 5: A Long Day**

Scott woke up to find himself back in the same room from before, the club room they were in moments before being sucked in. He immediately got up and looked around, spying Tom out cold next to him.

"Tom, hey dude, you okay?" He asked him.

Tom moaned but suddenly sat up with a gasp, "Whoa…am I dead?" he wondered and saw Scott, "Nope, I'm alive…" he muttered.

"We're back home…but where's Mark and Joe and Zach?" Scott wondered.

"Guys!" the two both turned and saw Jake standing with the others. They looked at them with shock, "What the hell happened?!" they asked. The two looked at each other and explained what happened, then another flash occurred and they saw Frankie was gone.

"Oh great…this is just great…now we lost Frankie, what the hell's going on here?" Jake wondered aloud.

"Something bad…really bad…" Scott replied.

"Hey guys, look!" someone said and pointed to the TV. They saw something new on the TV, in text it said:

_A new soul has joined the fight, now to see what shall happen…_

The screen then showed Talim and Mark at a campfire, with Mark looking at the skies.

"Did this happen before?" Tom asked.

"Yep, it's been showing what you guys have been doing," Jake replied.

"Shush, check this out!" another person said as they watched the TV.

---

_Mark's POV_

I was on my back, looking at the stars out of boredom. Talim and I were resting up after we left the village, we saved it from the Lizardmen, but we had to help put out the fires from my flame attacks, although I considered running away like a coward. Afterwards we continued with Seong Mi-na and we parted at a fork in the road, she told us about a place called "Five Elements Mountain" where a hermit was said to master every element.

Hearing of this sparked interest in both of us, me for wanting to learn more of fire, and Talim to learn about Wind. We departed and soon walked for a while before we settled down for camp for the day. That's how I got to be where I am now, Talim and I went to find firewood earlier and found some and while I had gotten the fire started, Talim got the food…actually; it was some food she had gotten in town earlier.

Personally, I was glad for the rations, as it meant we didn't have to hunt, and I have no idea how to hunt. Anyway, after that quick dinner I was on my back looking at the stars, which is what brings me up to here. I sighed and began to pace around, pacing always helped me think better, plus I did this a lot.

I hummed, a little bored as I was thinking, and pacing around the camp while doing so.

"God I'm so bored!" I whined.

"The stars are pretty tonight aren't they?" Talim asked, looking up at the sky. I stopped and looked up, noticing the stars were pretty, so many stars…it looked beautiful, plus I could see each individual one of them.

"Yeah…" I muttered and sat down next to Talim, no longer wanting to move.

"Do you have the same stars where you're from?" Talim asked.

"Yeah, but due to light pollution and cities, they're hard to see, in the country it's easier to see." I said to her. Talim smiled a little and inched a little closer to me; I pretended not to notice and just looked at the sky.

"So beautiful…" I muttered. I heard Talim hum with agreement and felt something on my hand. I looked and saw that Talim's hand was on mine, although I pulled away slightly, it did feel kinda warm against my hand.

…

No one speaks of this moment, got it?

Anyway, as soon as our faces got their normal color, we decided to get some sleep. I slept on a mat opposite of Talim's; she had her back turned to me.

"Good night Mark," she said.

"Night…" I replied. I turned over and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep…unfortunately I was kinda uncomfortable sleeping like this…I miss having a bed to sleep on, and my favorite pillow…mm…I miss home. I felt despair and homesickness fill my heat and whimpered a little bit out of loneliness. I suddenly felt something wrap around my waist. I immediately tried to squirm my way out of whatever was holding me but it tightened its hold on me.

I soon realized it was Talim that was hugging me, "Better?" she asked softly. I hummed, trying to say yes but my mouth couldn't say it. Talim loosened her hold on me until I only felt her hand on mine, "Night…" she said softly. I nodded, before going to sleep, silently cheering for this moment.

---

Joseph and Sosuke were now sitting at a campfire, after traveling and talking for hours.

"Wow…so that's how you got here," Sosuke said with awe.

"Yeah, but why did Thanatos attack me like that?" Joseph wondered.

"Don't know, but at any rate we should rest for now," Sosuke said.

"Yeah…hey…want to spar a little bit?"Joseph asked.

Sosuke shrugged, "Sure, if it'll help pass some time, plus, I want to see your skills," Sosuke said as he got up. He soon pulled out a sword from his hilt as Joseph summoned Brionac with a command. Sosuke charged at Joseph as he blocked Sosuke's sword with Brionac. Sosuke suddenly disappeared and soon reappeared behind Joseph; he blocked with Brionac again, and countered with a slash to the side.

'_Man he's fast, but where did I learn these moves? It feels like I've known these moves for years,' _Joseph thought. Joseph blocked another attempt at an attack and smashed his fist onto the ground. Suddenly the ground broke apart from the punch and caused Sosuke to jump.

'_When could he use the earth?!'_ he thought. He suddenly blocked an attack by Joseph and was flung to the ground. Sosuke saw that Joseph was wearing new clothes; Joseph was wearing a light green leather vest with a red scarf around his neck, some leather pants and traveler's boots. Sosuke was surprised by Joseph's new clothes, as was Joseph himself, who looked himself over.

"Wow…where'd these come from?" he asked as he looked at the clothes.

"Wow…do you feel any different?" Sosuke asked Joseph.

"…Actually, when I was fighting you, I felt like I knew how to use the earth and various techniques with a sword like I did them for years," Joseph said.

"Hmm…looks like those clothes give you a better edge in battle and fill you with knowledge…I wonder…" Sosuke muttered that last part under his breath.

"So…sleep?" Joseph asked.

"Sure Master," Sosuke agreed. After saying good night the two went off to sleep…but Joseph was still pondering his strange abilities he got and his clothes, could they be connected?

---

Zach was now snoring on the bed, as was Kilik on his, with Xianghua having the pillow over her ears to drown out the snoring.

'_Argh! I hate it when they snore!'_ She thought. She soon heard something fall outside and looked out the window to see a boy with light brown hair, glasses, and was wearing a light blue wizard's mantle, a blue leather shirt; a pair of fingerless gloves, a belt, and a pair of pants and boots to go with it. He also had a staff on his back.

"What the heck?" Xianghua said when she saw the boy.

She rushed to Zach and Kilik's room and woke them up, "Ooh, what now Xianghua?" Kilik asked groggily.

"There's someone outside, he's unconscious," Xianghua said.

"Probably someone who drank too much…" Zach mumbled and turned over.

"He looked like someone from your world Zach, "Xianghua mentioned. Zach's eyes shot up as he ran out of bed and out the window.

"Did he just jump out the window?" Kilik asked with surprise.

"I'm okay!" Zach's voice called from outside. They heard the sound of feet running and soon saw Zach carrying the boy on his back and he placed him on his bed.

"Wonder who he is…" Xianghua looked at the boy.

"His name is Frankie, he's a friend of mine," Zach said.

"'Frankie?' that's a strange name…then again, you and your friends have strange names," Kilik muttered.

Zach shot him a glare that said 'shut up or I'll make you regret it,' and Kilik shut up.

"Wonder how he got here…" Zach muttered.

"Maybe the same way you came, but why and what for?" Xianghua wondered.

"Well, we won't know until tomorrow, till then, night," Kilik said and resumed his sleep. Xianghua sighed and turned to Zach, then saw he was on the chair fast asleep. Sighing once more, Xianghua returned to her room and fell asleep again. But now she wondered about that mysterious boy, just why is he here?

---

**It appears that Frankie is now with us, but how is he connected to all this? And what is the reason for the new clothes? Stay tuned to find out!**


	7. Beginning of the Long Trip

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait, Procrastination kept getting to me so I've been slacking off...i'm so useless...anyway, asides from that, here's the newest chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Calibur, i do own Me, Sosuke, Joseph, Frankie, and Zach. If i owned Soul Calibur, i'd make an Anime of this story, because it's just that awesome ^_^**

**---**

**Chapter 6: Beginning of the Long Trip**

_Mark's POV_

I felt sunlight hit my face and began to open my eyes, my god I hate mornings. I felt something lightly shaking me; let me sleep damn-it! I felt the thing tug me a bit more and I shook my hand away to try to shoo it away. I finally decided to open my eyes, yawning and rubbing them, I soon saw Talim crouched down to look at me.

"Morning sleepy head," Talim smiled. As much as I hated mornings, I'll admit, waking up to see her face smiling at me…it was…nice…great I'm grinning again, now she'll think I'm weird.

Talim giggled however when she saw my reaction, "I take it you like my smile?" she asked.

…Damn she's good…

Anyway, after we had some breakfast (which I'm too lazy to explain what we had) we began to walk again, this time I wondered where Five Elements Mountain was, Seong Mi-na didn't give us good instructions…thank god she isn't here right now.

"Looks like we'll have to head to India, and then get a boat to Greece, then north of there is where Five Elements Mountain is…" Talim said as she looked over the map.

"Your sure 'bout that?" I asked.

"Yes now please stop looming over me," Talim said. I stepped back from her and we walked again, although I did like the nature, we needed a ride to India, and fast too, because the walking was becoming murder on my legs. That's when we noticed a wagon that was perched on the side of the road, apparently it looked stuck.

"Saved by the bell…" I muttered.

"Seems like we've…how you say 'hit the jackpot'?" Talim asked, trying her best to follow some of my lingo.

"That's right, you're getting better," I said as we headed to the wagon. Seems like we were lucky, because that wagon was heading to India as well; so after getting it out of the ditch, we hitched a ride and now were on our way to India. Personally I was glad, because I could rest my legs from the walking.

"Wonder what India is like…" I muttered.

"Never been to India eh boy?" the driver asked.

"Nah, heard about it and wanted to see it though," I replied, sitting up.

"Wait till you get there, then you'll be in for a treat," the driver said.

And boy was I in for a real treat, little did I know, what the driver said would turn out to be true…

---

Joseph and Sosuke were now walking…or in Joe's case, limping on some crutches, to head to India on their way to Five Elements Mountain. The reason why Joseph was using crutches was due to an injury he got back home, he could float around for a bit, but he needed the crutches, how he managed to fight Thanatos and Sosuke without his leg breaking was beyond him.

"You know, perhaps the Master can heal your leg when we reach him," Sosuke said to Joseph as they sat in the back of a cart on the way to India.

"Hope so…" Joseph sighed.

"Must be hard with that leg of yours," Sosuke said modestly as he looked at his leg.

"It is, but I got used to it after a while," Joseph replied.

"Tell me: when could use the earth?" Sosuke asked. Joseph opened his mouth to speak but he couldn't find the words.

"I don't know…" he replied.

"There are five major elements: Fire, Water/Ice, Earth, Wind, and Lightning, I can use lightning, you can use Earth, but what about your friends…hmm..." Sosuke wondered. Joseph began to wonder as well, what other elements could he learn besides earth? The cart was steadily moving along the dirt covered road to India, from where they were, it would take maybe some days…three at most, to get to India.

"Well, might as well get some sleep until we get to India," Sosuke said. No sooner had he said that was Joseph starting to nap. Sosuke smirked a bit and started to close his eyes as well. _'India…we're getting close…'_ He thought before he began to sleep.

---

Zach and Kilik both woke up the next morning and saw Frankie was waking up as well.

"Ooh my head…where am I?" Frankie asked.

"Do you want to know the hard way? Or just by looking at yourself you can understand," Zach said as he looked at Frankie.

"Zach? When did you get here?" Frankie asked as he began to sit up.

"I've been here for a day at least, but let me explain," Zach said. A few minutes later Frankie was now pale from what he heard.

"We-we're in the past?!" Frankie asked with shock.

"Yeah…and if we can have any way to get back home, we gotta find this "Sword of Salvation" or something," Zach said.

"Hmm…isn't that another name for Soul Edge or Soul Calibur?" Frankie asked.

"Wait yeah! That means we gotta find the swords so we can get back home!" Zach realized.

"Yeah…but I wonder…did anyone else get sucked in here with us?" Frankie asked.

"Mark, Tom, Scott and Joseph I think," Zach replied.

"Hmm…wonder if Mark and Joseph are okay…" Frankie wondered.

"I'm sure they are, but we should worry about ourselves first," Zach said as he got up.

Frankie nodded and went downstairs with Kilik and Zach. They found Xianghua waiting for them downstairs sitting in a chair; she looked tired for some reason and had some circles under her eyes.

"Morning Xianghua…something wrong?" Kilik asked.

"I couldn't sleep last night because you two were snoring your butts off," Xianghua replied. Kilik and Zach scratched their heads with embarrassment while Frankie just looked at them then Xianghua, then the room.

"So guess what Zach said was true then…" he replied. Xianghua noticed Frankie and smiled warmly, "Oh hey, glad to see you woke up," she said.

"Yeah, so you're Xianghua? Kilik told me a lot about you," Frankie said.

"Oh he did, did he?" Xianghua asked and looked at Kilik, who was now becoming scared.

"H-Hey don't look at me!" Kilik said.

"Oi, shouldn't we be getting ready to leave?" Zach asked.

"Right, we were heading to…uh…where we heading to again?" Kilik asked Xianghua.

"Don't you remember? We were heading to Ostrheinsburg to find the 'Sword of Salvation' remember?" Xianghua said.

"Oh yeah…well, let's go," Kilik said.

"What about breakfast?" Frankie asked, causing them to face-fault.

"R-Right, food…ehehe…" Kilik chuckled nervously.

After a quick breakfast they all headed out again to Ostrheinsburg and to the Sword of Salvation. But they had no idea of the others, Mark and Talim, Joseph and Sosuke, were all heading to one point. And where things start to get really hectic for them.

---

**Originally there was supposed to be a fight, but i was bored so i made this instead. R&R plz and Stay Tuned for the next chapter!**


	8. Meetings and Battles

**Hey everybody! After much procrastination and writing blocks, i've finished the chapter! There's a lot of fighting in this, and also a hint at Thanatos's identity, but it will remain a secret until the time is right. anyway, R&R plz!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, but the OCs i do own, my friends in the story own themselves, and i own myself as well**

**Chapter 7: Meetings and Battles**

Joseph and Sosuke were taking a much needed break from the ride, mainly to get the feeling back in their legs and to relieve themselves. Hey when you're in a wagon to India for around five hours in 1591 without videogames or something to keep you occupied, you'll either have to sleep or lose your mind out of boredom.

"God my legs are stiff…" Joseph said as he stretched his legs and arms to get rid of the pins and needles feeling in them.

"I know what you mean…shall we walk for a bit Master?" Sosuke asked.

"Sure," Joseph said. They began to walk for a while, maybe two or three hours tops, when they heard the sound of swords clashing against each other.

"The hell?" Joseph wondered as the sword clashes got louder. The two looked and saw it was a man with blonde hair with a scar on his eye; wearing armor encased in crystal and carried a crystal sword, which was now blocking the attack of a sword. Joseph and Sosuke saw that the creature the man was fighting was…or looked like, a man in black armor wielding a large Zwiehander and attacking the blonde, who Joseph realized was Siegfried.

"Looks like he might need our help," Joseph said as he summoned Brionac, with Sosuke nodding and pulling out his own sword. The two charged…or rather Joseph limped because of his leg, and they attacked the shadow creature. Sosuke clashed swords with the creature while Joseph decided to test his new Earth powers and smashed his fist against the ground, sending it forward and crumbling the ground as the shadow creature dodged it.

Sosuke used this as an advantage and attacked the shadow creature while he was distracted. He did manage to leave a scar on it before it kicked Sosuke to the ground. Joseph tried to strike with Brionac but the creature blocked it. Suddenly a wave of ice spikes shot towards the creature and froze its right leg.

"Now! Before it breaks away!" Siegfried yelled. Sosuke and Joseph nodded and unleashed a combined elemental attack, Joseph punched the ground and sent spires of earth at the creature while Sosuke pointed two fingers and shot a lightning bolt at the creature. The earth caused the creature to be impaled in the legs and other areas and the lightning bolt shot in between its forehead.

The creature fell to the ground as the earth receded, it squirmed around and wretched in pain as it began to turn into smoke then disappeared, the weapon as well.

"What…the hell…was that?" Joseph panted.

"I don't know…but I think…Thanatos may be responsible…" Sosuke panted as well. The two then noticed Siegfried getting up as well and walked towards them.

"You…why did you save me?" he asked.

"Well you needed help and we were passing by so we decided to help," Joseph said. Siegfried looked at them both and nodded, "very well…thank you both…now then…" he said and began to walk away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sosuke called out to him.

"To atone for my sins…by destroying Nightmare and Soul Edge!" Siegfried said dramatically.

"Right…also, if you see a guy with a black helmet on, watch out, he's dangerous!" Joseph said. But Siegfried only heard some of the message as he was soon out of hearing distance.

'_A man with a black helmet, could he be after Soul Edge as well? Regardless, I must continue forward…but I'll be sure to keep my eyes out for those two…along with that man with the black helmet…but why me? I know I have Soul Calibur…could Nightmare be after me? Or…is there someone else?'_ Siegfried thought.

Joseph was being helped up by Sosuke as they went back to the wagon, but there was something still on their minds: who sent that shadow creature? Why was it after Siegfried? And what were Mark and the others doing right now?

_Mark's POV_

Well, after being in a wagon for about…five…six hours? Well either way, you kinda need to stretch your legs after a long wagon ride. Although it really wasn't a total lose, while I was waking up from a nap, I happened to see Talim sleeping. It was only a little peek, yet I couldn't help but smile as Talim was sleeping, she looked so damn adorable…god I feel like a stalker…or something like that…

Anyway, I woke up and went to relieve myself while the driver was busy getting some things in town. After doing that I went back to the wagon and found Talim waking up.

"Glad to see you're waking up, sleep well?" I asked her.

She nodded, "I could've slept better if you didn't kick my side though," she giggled. I smacked my forehead, I knew I should've mentioned that I kick in my sleep…god I'm such a retard…Well, since the wagon driver was gone and we both had nothing else to do, we decided to look around town for any useful information about Soul Edge.

Boy did we find out info, turns out Soul Edge was a very fearful weapon, they said Nightmare was on the move again as well as 'a man encased in crystal armor' was following him. That definitely had to be Siegfried. But what did catch my attention was that there was someone wearing a black helmet named Thanatos who was killing people in various parts of the world, someone mentioned seeing him fighting a dark skinned boy with a crutch and a large sword and fought alongside a shriveled green creature with a glowing sword.

Okay, the shriveled green thing I knew for a fact, was Yoda, but the boy with the crutch…could that be Joseph? I kept thinking this while me and Talim were walking, I was only snapped out of my thoughts when I felt Talim shake me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I asked if you wanted to train with me," Talim said.

"Oh…uh…sure I guess…" I said. Talim smiled and dragged me to an open area outside the city. She unsheathed her tonfas and faced me.

"Don't hold back just because I'm a girl," Talim said.

I sighed, "As much as I'm going to regret this…bring it on!" I yelled and pulled out my sword. Talim soon ran at me and swung her tonfa at me, I blocked it with my sword but barely managed to dodge Talim's other tonfa from slicing my face; it did however slice some strands of my hair. I skidded back, sighing from the close call. 'Damn, she's fast for someone so little,' I thought as Talim ran towards me again.

I blocked her attacks and kicks, amazed by how fast she was for someone my age. We continued this back-and-forth fight for a while, until I decided to cheat a bit. I snapped my fingers and a small fire popped up as Talim leapt from it.

"No fair, cheater!" she said.

"Coming from you, monkey girl," I grinned.

"I am not a monkey, ape boy!" Talim retorted.

"Ooh, now you're asking for it!" I said and ran at her, but this time without my sword at all. I soon charged and lifted her off the round, spun her in the air, then dropped her to earth. We were both laughing so much we were soon on the ground, holding our sides from the laughing. We soon finished, a little chuckle then and there, as we just looked at the sky.

"Hey Mark…" Talim said.

"Mm?"

"If you can control fire…then that means you can control wind…right?" she asked.

"…I guess now that you think about it…yeah…" I said.

Talim got up and faced me, "Would…you like me to train you?" she asked. I was stunned, to be able to train with Talim to wield Wind like she can…or at least something like that. Still, it seemed like a good idea.

"Well…alright, when do we begin the first lesson 'Master Talim'?" I asked with a grin. Talim giggled cutely, "Soon apprentice, soon," she said as we saw the wagon coming towards us. We hopped in and began to ride to India once again.

Zach, Frankie, Kilik and Xianghua were walking down a road off somewhere. They too were on their way to India and they just passed into the border.

"Man, hard to believe it took this long just to get here," Zach replied.

"I know, if we were back home this would take a few hours," Frankie said with a sigh.

"Wow, your technology sounds…so advanced…" Xianghua said.

"Yeah, but we're also poisoning this world, we've been trying our best to save it but we're always at war at times…but here…it's peaceful…and a whole lot better than our world," Frankie replied. The four continued until Frankie sensed something behind them. It was a malevolent presence and Frankie felt it crawl around him. He turned around and there was nothing there.

He turned around and suddenly the group was surrounded by a mass of shadows with tendrils rising up from the ground. A portal soon appeared and Thanatos walked out of it. He still had the scar from Joseph's fight with him.

"Who the hell are you?" Zach asked.

"Thanatos…I'm here for Frankie…" Thanatos pointed to the latter.

"Me?" Frankie asked.

"Yeah, my master thinks you're a good candidate, with that power you got, maybe better that those two wimps we got rid of…hmm…I think one of them was your friend Tom…" Thanatos said. Zach immediately tensed up from that statement.

"You mean you killed my friend?" he asked as his hand reached for his rod.

"Well my master did that, I sent your buddy Scott back to your world…" Thanatos said as he summoned Diablo XIII and prepared for a brawl.

Zach charged at Thanatos and swung his staff, the masked man blocking it with his sword and kicking Zach in the ribs, sending him skidding. Kilik and Xianghua both attacked Thanatos, with Kilik swinging his staff and Xianghua attacking with her sword. Thanatos managed to block the attacks but when Frankie stepped in, he was now starting to get his ass beat.

'Damn, three against one isn't fair,' he thought. He suddenly felt something hard on his side and looked to see Zach out of nowhere swinging his iron rod at his side. Thanatos felt pain from that and skidded from it, part of his mask cracking. He held the cracked part as it was starting to become fixed. Xianghua slashed her sword at Thanatos while Kilik and Zach combo attacked with their staves.

Thanatos blocked them with his free hand and kicked them away. He was suddenly hit with a huge gust of wind and sent flying. He looked up and saw Frankie and sensed a weird aura around him.

'_No way, this power…it's…'_ Thanatos thought. He suddenly was blind-sided by Xianghua when she came out of nowhere and slashed Thanatos across the chest, leaving another scar across the previous scar he gotten from Joseph. This move managed to cause him to fall down onto the ground.

"Now, let's see just what's underneath that mask…" Xianghua said as she reached for the helmet. Thanatos suddenly let out a maniacal laugh, which caused the others to flinch from it and Xianghua to pull her hand back. Thanatos suddenly back-flipped and now faced them.

"Man…I'll admit I never thought you were strong, especially Frankie over there, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you guys in the future," Thanatos said as a portal appeared.

"Oh and if you want to learn more about what's going on, head to Ostrheinsburg, that's where your friends are going," Thanatos said as he began stepping into the portal.

"Wait, what about Scott and Tom?" Zach shouted.

"They're back in your world; don't worry about them…yet…" Thanatos said as the portal closed.

Zach growled while Frankie looked at his hands, then his staff, completely shocked by his power. _'When…when could I use this power? Just…what am I?'_ he thought.

"Hey Frankie, you there?" Zach asked as he shook his friend.

"Huh? Yeah I'm okay…just got distracted…" Frankie replied.

"Come on, we're close to India now," Kilik said as he had his arms wrapped around his staff which was propped on his shoulders. Xianghua was thinking about Thanatos and when his mask cracked, she was also wondering what was behind the mask and how Zach, Frankie, and their friends were all connected.

"Xianghua, come on, we should get going," Kilik urged her. She nodded and the four went off to their next destination.

Thanatos walked out of the portal and found Malgreed working on another "experiment" that seemed to have light brown, almost grayish hair.

"…I don't want to know where you got that…" Thanatos replied simply.

"What was the status of our targets?" Malgreed asked, glancing back to Thanatos.

"Well, Joseph and Sosuke killed one of the drones attacking Siegfried, I just fought Frankie," Thanatos said.

"And got your ass beat by him..." Malgreed muttered.

"Hey I had no idea he had that kind of power okay!" Thanatos shouted. "But besides that, seems like our main goal hasn't found out yet," Thanatos said.

"Good…" Malgreed said as he was taking out the corpse's organs.

"Who is that anyway?" Thanatos asked.

"Some poor soul who tried to come here for Soul Edge…" Malgreed said in an uninterested tone as he went about his dissection.

"Well, while you go ahead and gut this thing, I'm going to recover from that kick Zach gave me, bastard managed to crack my helmet…" Thanatos snarled as his helmet was having pieces of it fall off it. One of the chunks fell from the helmet, revealing some white hair, pale skin and a portion of a red eye. Thanatos covered the exposed area with his hand and walked into the shadows.

**Well, seems like the others are doing fine, but what are Thanatos's and Malgreed's plans? and what is behind Thanatos's mask? stay tuned for all these answer and more in the next chapter!**


	9. Reunion

**finally! Here's chapter 8 of the Sopul calibur story! this one will reveal some things about my firends and myself, in more ways than one. anyway, Enjoy and R&R plz!**

**Chapter 8: Reunion**

_Mark's POV_

I breathed the air deeply as me and Talim stepped out of the wagon, "We're finally here!" I said happily. After sitting in a wagon for at least a day and a half we finally made it to India! Right now we were busy looking around the city, admiring the architecture and stuff like that, trying out some Indian food (which was sort of good), and asking around for anyone to help us get to Greece.

We had asked like a dozen shop owners, and bought a thing or two, until we found a possible lead on a merchant selling some goods to distant lands. Even though we had a lead it was getting late, so Talim and I decided to find an Inn to stay for the night. Thankfully we found one back in town and we stayed there for the night.

I was now on the bed after having some dinner of Indian food (I'll admit it was good, really good) and I was glad we found someone to take us to our next destination, still…I wondered if the guys were okay, I haven't heard from them other than the rumors, and I still was thinking about that helmeted man. I heard some thuds from the room next to mine, and since Talim was sharing the same room as me (the innkeeper thought we were a 'young couple' and I had to bite my lip trying so hard to not burn him to a crisp) I decided to see who it was.

I walked out and knocked on the door, "Oi! Can you keep it down?" I said through the door. I heard someone coming to the door and it opened. I was now staring at a guy with black hair, black eyes, very pale skin like he hasn't been in the sun at all, and he was wearing a white shirt and black sleeping pants.

We just stared at each other for what seemed like hours until someone spoke, "hey Sosuke, who's at the…" I looked and my mouth nearly dropped when I saw my friend Joseph right behind Sosuke.

Joseph and Sosuke were now in India after a long wagon ride, glad to be here in the city and to check out any new information. They asked around if they knew about Five Elements mountain, apparently it was like the miners said, an old hermit who mastered the elements lived there, but it wasn't in the Himalayas, it was located in the West, somewhere near Greece or something, possibly Europe.

After hunting for answers for hours they found someone who could take them to Greece, but he was out so they had to wait until he came back. Tired and exhausted, they decided to head to the nearest Inn to rest, which they found one and got rooms.

"Well master, it appears we may have found something to finding the hermit," Sosuke said as he bit into some bread.

"Yeah…but I wonder about what they said about that boy who could snap fire from his fingers…sounds like Mark to me…" Joseph said.

"Probably…is your leg hurting master?" Sosuke asked as he looked at Joseph's bad leg.

"A bit, nothing major though, I've gotten used to it," Joseph replied.

"We should find a specialist and see if he can treat it," Sosuke said.

"I know, I know," Joseph said as he got up. He slipped accidently and his crutches and he too fell onto the ground with a thud.

"Oi! Can you keep it down?" a voice asked at the door. The door opened and Sosuke stood at the door.

"Hey Sosuke, who's at the…" Joseph stopped dead when he saw it was his friend Mark; he still looked the same, only in a black undershirt, beige pants and black boots.

"Joe…seph?" Mark asked slowly when he saw his friend. The two looked at each other for what seemed like forever until they grinned.

"Dude!" they said at the same time.

"Master? Do you know him?" Sosuke asked.

"Yeah, he's my friend I told you about," Joseph said to him.

"Oh yeah…pleased to meet you Mark, I'm Sosuke," Sosuke said and shook his hand.

"Likewise, so Joseph, what happened?" Mark asked.

"Long story so get comfy," Joseph said.

There was another knock and the three saw Talim at the doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know there was someone you knew here, I'll let you get reacquainted," Talim said and turned to leave.

"Wait Talim, stay here, they're friends," Mark said. Talim looked at Joseph and Sosuke and nodded, sitting down.

"Where to even begin…" Mark began.

Frankie, Zach, and Kilik and Xianghua sighed as they sat in their rooms, now making it to India just as it was getting dark.

"I'm so beat…" Zach moaned.

"Me too…I can't move even if something unexpected happened," Frankie groaned.

"Ditto…" Kilik and Xianghua both said. There was soon the sound of an explosion and everyone jumped.

"What was that?" Zach asked.

"Sounded like a few rooms down," Frankie said.

"Son of a bitch Mark! Next time warn us okay?" a familiar voice said.

"Well excuse me cripple boy, next time I'll just burn your leg off!" an all too familiar voice to both Zach and Frankie said.

"No way…" they said and ran to where the noise was. The found the source: a room covered with soot, some things on fire, a girl and a boy with black hair covered in soot and Joseph and Mark about to kill each other.

"Mark, Joseph!" Zach and Frankie both said.

_Mark's POV_

Every have that feeling when you see your best friend after so long? Well that's what I was feeling when I saw Zach and Frankie when they ran towards us.

"Guys? When, how'd you get here?" I asked.

"We heard your yelling after the explosion, what happened?" Frankie asked. I sighed and explained what happened since I got here, then Joseph replied by saying what happened to him, then Frankie and Zach finished up with what happened to them.

"So this 'Thanatos' guy was the same guy I heard from the rumors, and Yoda was the one who died…oh man…" I said with shock.

"Yeah, and I guess you're the guy who can shoot flames from his fingers," Zach said.

"Mm…well this explains a lot about what's been going on, but now I'm confused about something: Why didn't Thanatos try to get Mark? I mean, they sound almost alike…only Thanatos is more…evil…" Frankie said.

"Don't look at me!" I replied quickly.

"Right…hmm…still…so Thanatos told you to head to Five Elements Mountain right? He told me that too," Frankie said.

"And it looks like we're supposed to head to Greece and go North from there," Sosuke said.

"Thanatos said it was in the Himalayas…why did he want all of us here?" Joseph wondered.

"Maybe to take us all out at once?" Frankie suggested.

"That may be a possibility…or maybe it's for something else…" I muttered that last part under my breath.

"Well we won't solve it tonight, I say we think about it in the morning," Xianghua said as she got up.

"I agree, well, night everyone," Kilik said as he and Xianghua left.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said as I got up, "I'm hitting the sack, laters," I said and left.

Talim couldn't help but giggle cutely from the remark Mark made as he left.

"So…you and Mark…" Joseph said.

"He told me a lot about you guys…and about what it was like for him back in your world…" Talim replied.

"Yeah, about everyone hating him…wait he told you?" Joseph asked.

"He's surprisingly deep when you get to know him, despite all the hatred he has for your friends, he cares about them, I don't understand why people think he's annoying…he sweet on the inside…" Talim replied with a hint of red in her face.

The other guys looked at each other then at Talim, "So…you're not like the others aren't you?" Frankie asked.

"No, Mark's not a bad person; he's just misunderstood a lot, that's all" Talim replied.

"Yeah, we like him because he's cool, everyone else just hates him…I bet he'd even stay here if he wanted…" Joseph said.

"Possibly, given what he's been through…" Frankie replied.

"Well, I'm off, good night," Talim said and walked out.

"Well I think we'd hit the hay too, night," Zach said as he and Frankie left. Joseph decided to hit the hay as well, tired and strangely empty now, although he didn't know why. Perhaps it was due to the information he learned? Or maybe he was glad to see his friends were alright. It was hard to tell.

Meanwhile, outside the inn, on one of the bigger buildings overlooking the city, Thanatos was busy standing on the edge of the building.

"Hmm…wonder when I can attack…not today…hm?" he noticed a piece of paper on the ground and picked it up, it was in Indian writing.

"God damn it…" he muttered and waved a hand over the paper, changing the text to English. The paper read:

_Tomorrow, a party held by the sultan is being held, everyone is welcome! Head to the Palace, fun, food and entertainment will be provided!_

"hmm…seems like tomorrow is going to be a lucky day…for me…" Thanatos said as he disappeared through a portal.

**Uh oh, Thanatos is plotting something, this won't end well. also, about me being hated by everyone, that's actually true, i won't go into detail, but i'm sorta hated by people for no reason, there's ai think something like that in Chapter 4 durng my part, if anyone played Kingdom Hearts 2 they'll figure it out. anyway, stay tuned for more and also R&R plz!**


	10. Party Crashers

**Okay, due to final exams coming up and my own procrastination, i may nto be able to upload that often, just warning you guys. Anyway, here's the newest chappie!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, but the characters in this story (Me, Thanatos, my friends, Malgreed, etc) i do. ALso i do not own Prince of Persia (you'll see soon)**

**Chapter 9: Party Crashers**

_Mark's POV_

_I was surrounded by stained glass windows, sword in my hands, but it didn't look like my katana, it looked…different. I blocked the attack of a man with long black hair and charged at him, swinging it around wildly. The man blocked every attack with ease, my vision soon faded in and out, brief glimpses of the man along with Algol standing above me, as well as some conversation._

"Is he…really worth….becoming god…need a new host…you must…find…this one shall…needs to be trained…split him…"

_I then felt something, like I was being ripped in half, before the darkness overcame me._

I gasped as I woke up, cold sweat on my face from my nightmare; I saw Talim still sleeping soundly and carefully got out and into the bathroom, washing my face with cold water.

"Wha-what was that about…was that Algol? What did he mean 'need a new host'? "I mumbled to myself. I looked at the mirror in front of me, noticing my complexion; wow…I have a tan…need to shave though. After calming down, I snuck into bed and tried to get some sleep, it was hard though, with that nightmare I had.

I felt something on my waist and my gut told me Talim was awake and hugging me in an attempt to get me to sleep. It worked like a sleeping agent, because that was all I needed to get to sleep again.

This time, I didn't have a nightmare, but a good dream this time.

I woke up again to sunlight this time, and soon felt something gently being placed on my cheek. I glanced and saw Talim, sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me.

"Morning…" I yawned.

"Morning…you feeling better?" she asked.

"Fine, had a nightmare is all," I said and got up.

"You slept like a rock after I hugged you," Talim stated. I blushed and turned to hide it, "How'd you know about the fact I couldn't sleep?" I asked her.

"You fidgeted after you came back to bed…" Talim replied.

_'Damn, gotta stop doing that…'_ I thought.

"What was the nightmare about?" Talim asked me.

"…w-well…it…it was like…" I began to tell her what I had that night. Talim listened while I told her about the nightmare, but she seemed confused about the same things I was confused about.

"Could that nightmare have happened? Or is it going to happen?" I asked.

"I don't know…but it was just a dream," Talim replied. I nodded and went into the bathroom, few minutes later I came out in my clothes again. We both headed downstairs and saw the others coming down as well.

"Morning, sleep well?" Joseph asked.

"Eh, it was okay…" I yawned. Before any of us could have breakfast, we saw Xianghua rush down with a flyer in her hand and slam it on the table.

"Look!" she said. We looked at the flyer and we saw it was talking about a party the sultan was hosting at the palace.

"Everyone in the city is invited?" I asked.

"Wonder what the occasion is…" Kilik mumbled.

"Well there is going to be entertainment and food, maybe a little break will help us," Frankie said.

"I agree with Frankie, so it's tonight right? That means we got all day to get ready!" Xianghua said ecstatically.

"Does she get like this all the time?" I asked Kilik.

"Most of the time yes…" Kilik replied. So we spent the rest of the day getting just looking around the city, we even got some stuff from the vendors, mainly some clothes, supplies, and a weapon or two along the way. It soon became dark so we decided to head back to the inn and got ready for the party.

Let me ask you something: do you know how hard it is to wear an Indian dress shirt from the 15th century? Let me answer that for you: It's very hard to do.

"Argh! I hate this!" I growled as I tried to get the shirt for my outfit on. I felt it suddenly come on perfectly and I saw it was Talim who was helping me.

"You look like an idiot, let me help," she giggled. I couldn't help the blush on my face from appearing, having a girl help me dress was embarrassing…yet…its weird but…it feels like…like we've known each other since we were kids. I know it may seem strange but its true…I…I don't know why though…

"Done!" Talim said as she stepped back.

I looked over my clothes in the mirror…wow…I really look good in these things. I think it was either an Indian styled version of a dress shirt and pants in a multi colored style of the 1500's or a robe and pants with colors splashed onto them. I looked at Talim and blushed a bit, since she was wearing a green sari that was trimmed with some gold around the edges. To be honest, it fit her perfectly.

"What do you think?" she asked.

"It looks…good on you…" I said with a little red on my face.

Talim giggled and soon held my hand, "Come on, everyone's waiting!" she said as we hurried off downstairs. I'll never forget that feeling I had, it was a burning feeling in my chest, my heart raced as well, and it wasn't until later did I realize why I felt this way. We soon met downstairs and saw the others all dressed up as well.

"Wow, we look good," I grinned.

"Yeah, come on, the party's going to start soon," Xianghua said and we all went to the palace.

Above the city rooftops, Thanatos was watching Mark and the gang with two others, one was a large man who had one red and black clothing of a wanderer from Europe who had a large sword on his back covered in black cloth. He had black hair that was cut short, revealing his amber eyes full of mischief and bloodlust.

The man next to Thanatos's left had a hood on his head, hiding his facial features, although a gleam from under the hood showed his eyes or something like that. His mouth was covered by a black scarf that went down his front, ending at his dark brown pants.

"Seems like they're going to the party, Whaddya say we crash it?" Thanatos asked the two men.

"So long as I can kill someone," the man with the large sword said. The hooded man just nodded with agreement as the three vanished before anyone could notice them.

When we got there we were surprised by all the people who came.

"Wow…so many people…" Joseph muttered when we saw all the commoners who came.

"Yeah, when the sultan said everyone was invited, he meant everyone," Frankie said as well.

"Come on guys, let's go and have some fun!" Xianghua said as she dragged Kilik and the others. Sosuke and Joseph went over to a buffet table…wait, are those belly dancers? Cool…huh…wonder what Talim and Xianghua would look like in those…dear lord…okay dude, gotta control the hormones…still can't get it out of my head, damn you hormones!

"Staring at the belly dancers Mark?" Talim asked. I looked away to hide the blush creeping up my face at that moment.

"N-No, oh look food," I said and rushed to the buffet table. I got there and sighed, "That was too close…" I muttered.

"Messed up didn't you?" Zach asked as he was putting food on his plate.

"Wha! When'd you get here?" I asked him.

"Just got here, anyway, you screwed up dude," Zach grinned.

"We're not dating you douche," I growled and put some…I have no idea what it was…on my plate.

"Heh, right," Zach said sarcastically. I grunted and went to a table to eat my food. Even though I had no idea what half this stuff was, I still ate it, it was pretty good too! I ate, looking around the place, staring at the belly dancers while the people around them clapped…wait a minute…is that Zach? What the hell is he…perverted son of a bitch…I soon saw Talim coming towards me and sat down with me.

"Having any fun?" she asked.

"Well asides from the fact Zach's probably going to get kicked in the balls by a belly dancer, I'm fine…sorry about earlier," I said with a light chuckle.

"Its fine, you looked cute when you were embarrassed," Talim said with a small smile. I blushed and turned to hide it, but couldn't. We soon heard clapping and turned as we saw the Sultan who was hosting this party coming into the hall. He was a man with a round belly, wore the turban and everything. He strangely reminded me of the Sultan from Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time…wait a minute…

"Hey Talim, what's the name of the city again?" I asked her.

"Azad…why?" she asked.

_'When did I get sucked into Prince of Persia?' _I thought.

"Nothing...just had a weird feeling," I replied. Yeah, feeling of déjà vu kicking in.

"My people, I would like to welcome you all to this little party, so please, enjoy yourselves and have a great time!" the sultan said as everyone cheered.

In the roof of the palace, Thanatos and the two men were at the skylight, watching the party.

"Man, even the sultan is here…should we kill him too?" the man with the sword asked.

"Hmm….interesting…Altair…have anything to say?" Thanatos asked him.

The man just shook his head and Thanatos nodded.

"Right, we can maybe capture him for some cash, maybe something more," Thanatos said. The three men nodded as Thanatos counted down to three on his fingers.

I laughed as I drank something I couldn't quite tell…pomegranate juice? I don't know, but anyway, I was having a nice conversation with some locals and the others, who were with me talking. Once we finished telling a hilarious joke (but I forgot what it was about) everyone was laughing from it. I was drinking something at that moment…but I have no idea what it was…wine maybe? Mm…anyway, I suddenly heard glass breaking from above and looked up and saw three guys jump down from the skylight.

The three landed on the bits of glass as everyone stare with fear.

"Thanatos!" Joseph yelled and pulled out a large sword.

"That's Thanatos?" I asked, looking at the helmeted man.

"Yep, he's the one who attacked me and killed Yoda!" Joseph said.

"Well glad you still remember that, I want you to meet my two friends: Ran…" Thanatos pointed to the man with the large sword next to his right.

"It's RanvitchkusRanvitchkus

!" he shouted.

"What-the-fuck-ever dude!" Thanatos yelled back. "And Altair…" Thanatos motioned to his left. We looked and there was no one there.

"Where? I asked. Thanatos and Ranvitchkus looked and saw their ally wasn't with them.

"Okay, where the fuck is Altair?" Ranvitchkus asked. We heard the sound of eating and turned to see a guy with a hood starting to ravage the buffet.

"What the fuck?" I asked.

"Altair, what the hell are you doing?" Thanatos asked him. Altair turned around, finishing off a steak he ate, bone and all, and burped, the bone flying out and landing on the ground.

"God, why Malgreed gave you your voracious hunger I'll never know, just get over here," Thanatos said with a sigh. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked (as did we) and saw Altair next to him.

"Ah! Don't do that!" Thanatos yelled.

Altair just tilted his head and looked at us, then pointed his finger at me.

"Yes, that's him, he's mine," Thanatos said. Altair nodded and pointed at Kilik, Xianghua, Frankie, and Zach.

"Yes, you can eat them," Thanatos said. Altair looked and lowered the scarf, revealing a mouth with razor sharp teeth and a forked tongue that licked its lips with a ravenous look of hunger.

"Oh shit…" Zach said. Altair suddenly took one step and suddenly there was a huge wind gushing at us and I saw, for a split second, Altair running past me and sending Zach, Frankie, Kilik and Xianghua flying.

"Guys!" Joseph yelled but was suddenly attacked by Ranvitchkus and Sosuke was helping him. This left me and Talim against Thanatos.

"So…we finally face each other, eh brother?" Thanatos said as he charged at us…wait a minute…

Did…did he just call me 'brother'?

**Me: Well asides from the fact i added Azad as pure coincidence that we are there, i probably will not add the Prince of Persia...but i wanna see the movie so bad! Anyway, With the gang fighting Ranvitchkus and Altair, we must fight them before they ruin the party. But why did Thanatos call me brother?**

**Talim: maybe he's related to you, like a logn lost relative or something?**

**Me: ...hmm...nah...Anyway, tune in next time to find out what happens! Oh and also, plz review, or i'l burn you *snaps fingers and fire engulfs the screen* (insert maniacal laughter here)**

**Talim: but asides from that, please review!**


	11. Only the Beginning

**Well this is a surprisingly short chapter, but this is what i could think of right now. Anyway this one will include some things that will make sense later into the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Calibur, sadly...**

**Chapter 10: Only the Beginning…**

* * *

I blocked Thanatos's attack and quickly snapped my fingers, sending a jet of flames at him; Thanatos dodged the flames as Talim began to attack with a flurry of kicks and thrusts of her tonfas. I had to admit, Talim was young but already very fast for Thanatos. Thanatos was having a hard time trying to get a hit on her.

"Stay still you little monkey!" Thanatos yelled as he tried to slice Talim.

"I'm not a monkey!" Talim said and kicked him in the face…er…helmet. Thanatos jumped back and snapped his fingers, suddenly black flames shot at both of us and we had to dodge them.

'How could he have black flames?' I wondered as I dodged the flames. I soon saw how the others were doing during the brief moments of peace I had while Talim fought Thanatos. Altair was incredibly fast, so fast he was only a blur as the others tried to get a hit on him.

"Hold the fuck still!" Zach yelled as he swung the rod wildly trying to catch Altair, the only thing he did hit was Kilik's head at least five times.

"Ow! That hurt!" Kilik said to him.

"Hey I was trying to hit Altair!" Zach replied.

"Hey, fight Altair not each other!" Frankie said as he tried to hit Altair with his staff but was spun in a circle. Meanwhile, Joseph and Sosuke were fighting Ranvitchkus.

"Damn, Ran is hard," Joseph said.

"Ranvitchkus! My name is Ranvitchkus!" The man yelled.

"Can we just call you Ran for short?" Joseph asked.

"No! Now shut up and die!" Ranvitchkus yelled and swung his sword at them. Joseph dodged Ranvitchkus's swings while Sosuke tried to launch a lightning bolt at him. The bolt missed Ranvitchkus by a close shave but soon was racing towards Mark.

"Mark, look out!" Joseph yelled.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I turned once I heard the voice and saw a bolt of yellow lightning coming towards me, acting fast I held my blade up to block it…not the best move in my opinion…the reason why was because the lightning went into my sword and into me, shocking the shit out of me. I yelled from the pain and reached out my arm to where Thanatos is, suddenly the lightning channeled through my body to my fingertips and then the crack of a gunshot rang out as the bolt went sailing towards Thanatos.

Thanatos barely managed to dodge the lightning bullet, but it did manage to break part of his helmet and then cause an explosion once the bullet made contact with the wall. The fighting stopped after this as everyone saw the large hole in the wall caused by my attack.

"Holy Shit…" almost everyone said. Then our attention turned to Altair and Ranvitchkus, who were at Thanatos's side as he held his hand over the opened portion of his helmet. Some droplets of blood spilled onto the floor as Thanatos raised his head; he parted two fingers, revealing a crimson eye and white hair now turning red.

I clutched my head in pain from looking at Thanatos's eye, strangely the area I was holding my head was the area where Thanatos's eye was. As a portal appeared from behind them, Thanatos turned and looked at me, "I'll remember this…" he snarled and left. Once he did the pain was gone and I gasped from it, letting a cold sweat drip down my face and neck.

"Mark…" Talim said and had a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm fine…but what just happened?" I asked.

"Don't look at me, that power you did however was incredible though…when could you do that?" Sosuke asked.

"I don't know…it just happened…" I replied. We soon heard someone come towards us and saw the sultan coming towards us.

"Oh thank you for stopping those…things…" he said happily.

"Uh…you're welcome? Oh and sorry about the hole…" I said.

"It's perfectly fine, we'll get that patched up soon, but tell me, if you can control the elements , I assume you're going to the hermit then?" the sultan asked.

"Yeah…but we have no idea where he is," Frankie piped in.

"I know where he is, he's north of Greece, hidden in a mountain cave somewhere, I believe that is where he is," The sultan said. One of the servants soon walked up and we saw they were holding a dagger, it looked so refine and made of water...or so polished it looked like water but in the form of a dagger.

"This dagger is one of my family's treasures, it's known as the Dagger of Waters, It's supposedly part of a group of daggers that have an element for each, some say the hermit who mastered the elements has them all and will only give them to those he deems worthy" The sultan said and gave the dagger to Joseph.

Joseph looked at the dagger and poked it, suddenly the dagger dripped water and a clone of Joseph, made of water, appeared before us briefly before it reverted to water.

"Whoa…I'm definitely keeping this…" he said and sheathed the dagger.

"Thank you, we should be leaving now," I said, bowing to the Sultan, and turning to leave. I did however have a strange feeling something was behind me though…something…familiar.

"The GAME!"

…Son of a bitch…not him…anyone but…

"Conner…you fucking piece of shit you…" I said to the teen with the disheveled brown hair, black and grey striped shirt and jeans, who grinned at me.

…Why the fuck did it have to be him?

* * *

**Yep, we beat Thanatos, get a dagger with water powers, and my friend Conner made us lose the Game...yeah...i'm going to recieve so much flames for this...i hate you so muh conner...i hate you...Don't hate me because conner made me...okay us, lose the game...okay enough of this! Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	12. Desert Rats

**Well, here's the new chappie i promised y'all, i'd like to thank my friend Joeseph who helped me make this chapter. Thanks Joe! Anyway, let it begin!**

**Chapter 11: Desert Rats**

Okay, is it's been like…I have no idea, since we met Conner. Apparently he got sucked in around the time Thanatos came to the party at Azad and saw the whole fight, now he was making my life miserable by making me lose the game every half an hour, and right after we explained the others what it was, they wanted to do two things:

_1. Get to the hermit as fast as we can_

_2. Kill Conner (I so don't blame them)_

It's sort of funny, because I've been wanting to kill him so much, right now we're traveling through a desert while Kilik, Me, and Zach are planning to kill Conner.

"Okay, so we all agree then, we have Mark burn Conner then bury him in the desert, no one will know," Kilik said. We nodded to this and I grinned.

"The Game!" Conner said out of nowhere. That's it, he's so dead! I turned to Conner and prepared to snap my fingers, small sparks of fire appearing, ready to burn Conner to a crisp, but another hand pulled mine down at the last second.

I looked and saw Talim with a 'shame on you' look in her face. "No Mark, down boy…" she said like I was a dog. I bowed my head and turned, "Sorry Talim," I said in a monotone voice.

She giggled and patted my head, "Good boy," she said.

"So what, are you two dating?" Joseph asked.

"No! We're just friends!" I said with a blush creeping up my face.

"No, they're Intimate friends" Zach said with a grin.

"SHUT UP ZACH!" I yelled.

"She does like you, you know," Ranvitchkus said as he popped out of nowhere.

"Why don't you just-" I paused when I saw Ranvitchkus before us.

"WTF?" I yelled.

"Hey Ran," Joseph said casually, causing Ranvitchkus to flip out.

"It's Ranvitchkus! Get it right!" he yelled.

"Hey where's Thanatos?" Joseph asked.

"Still recovering, now shut up!" Ranvitchkus said. He then charged at Joseph but he blocked him with Brionac and Sosuke charged at Ranvitchkus. He managed to dodge Sosuke and skidded.

"Hey Altair, I need some help!" He hollered to his friend. We looked to where Ranvitchkus was looking and saw Altair was eating out food!

"No freaking way!" Zach and Kilik yelled and charged at him.

"Not the food!" We yelled. Altair noticed us and jumped, then dodged Zach and Kilik as they charged, causing them to tumble into each other, and appeared next to Ranvitchkus.

"Man, why did Malgreed make you so damn hungry, sheesh?" Ranvitchkus asked. Altair just shrugged as he finished off the last apple and threw the core away into the sand. Okay, now we were pissed, not because of Altair eating our food…okay mainly that, but also that Ranvitchkus was here. Well not really Ran…

**(Ranvitchkus: My name is—**

**Me: DUDE WE KNOW!)**

Anyway…while Ranvitchkus was arguing with Altair over eating the food, Joseph made some signs to attack while they weren't looking. Joseph, me and Sosuke all charged and tried to attack Ranvitchkus, he only raised his hand and some sort of shield sent us flying back.

"I wasn't ready yet," he said. He pulled out his sword and pointed it at us, "Now I'm ready," Ranvitchkus said. Altair suddenly disappeared again and Ranvitchkus noticed. "Where'd he go?" he asked us.

We just shrugged. Suddenly Sosuke got kicked back by something.

"What the hell?" Joseph asked before he got kicked too.

"Oh crap…" I said. I soon saw Altair briefly before he gave me an uppercut under my jaw, then kicked me in mid-air and sent me crashing to the ground. I got up, in pain, as Talim helped support me.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I smirked, spat some blood out, and got up.

"Yeah, just needed a wakeup call, where's Altair?" I asked. I got my answer as I saw the others trying to fight Altair, with him disappearing each time. Hmm…I think I remember seeing this from somewhere…but where? I saw Sosuke and Joseph attack Altair when he reappeared and both managed to send him flying.

I watched this but then noticed the kind of shoes he was wearing…wait a minute…I remember those shoes…Altair then stomped his foot twice and disappeared.

"Hey Mark, why did Altair stomp his foot twice like that?" Joseph asked.

"Wait a minute…doesn't the_ Shukuchi_ technique do that?" I said aloud.

"Yeah, and I noticed his shoes too are the same for that style," Joseph said.

"Oh crap…we're so dead…" I said with realization. Altair suddenly appeared before me and uppercut me again…that's it; I'm so-o going to hurt him. I snapped my fingers as fire soon appeared and soon trapped Altair.

"He's trapped, get him!" I yelled. Sosuke, Joseph and I all charged up our lightning attacks and we fired at Altair. Altair was sent flying and rolled onto the ground.

"Joseph, when could you use lightning?" Kilik asked.

"I…don't know…" Joseph said.

"Oi enough with the talking, let's continue fighting!" Ranvitchkus said and charged at us. Joseph summoned Brionac again and threw it at Ran, sending him flying after it made contact with his chest, apparently piercing him.

"I think you actually did it," Frankie said. We soon saw Ranvitchkus rip the sword out of him and chuck it in front of Joseph. Our reactions at the time were, 'O_O, WTF?'

"Heh, thought that would kill me eh?" Ranvitchkus asked as he got up. We soon saw Conner appear right behind him with a grin, "The game!" he yelled.

"Shut up, you're annoying," Ranvitchkus said and decapitated him without warning.

"Damn, he beat us to it," Me, Zach, Sosuke, and Kilik said.

"Mark!" Talim yelled.

"Not cool Sosuke," Joseph said to him.

"Kilik, that's just…wrong," Xianghua said.

"Oh come on he was asking for it!" We (including Ranvitchkus) all yelled.

"Stay out of this!" we yelled to Ranvitchkus.

"Shut up!" Ranvitchkus yelled and charged at us again. Me, Sosuke and Joseph all charged our lightning attacks again and fired it at Ranvitchkus, hitting him dead on. Ran was sent flying and he looked like he was on the verge of defeat, but suddenly the three of us were on the floor.

"What the hell?" I asked. We soon saw Altair, which answered my question.

"Dude, you're late, seriously they nearly killed me man!" Ranvitchkus said as he got up.

We heard a laugh coming from Altair and looked towards him, "Heh, sorry I was hungry," he said in a squeaky voice.

"WTF?, he can talk?" we all said.

"No wonder he doesn't speak, his voice is annoying," Joseph said. Altair suddenly appeared and stabbed Joseph in the bad leg from behind. Joseph yelled in pain and clutched his bad leg in pain.

"Dude, that is like, a low blow," I said and snapped my fingers. Altair fell back from the flames that emerged from nowhere (to him). Frankie was just standing there and Zach noticed this and "Dude, don't just fucking stand there, do some magic man, sheesh," he sighed.

"Oh…right," Frankie said and said something and we saw a giant fireball hurtling towards Altair. Altair suddenly pulled out a sword and sliced the fireball in two.

"No Way!" We all yelled with surprise.

"What are these guys? Are they…even human?" I asked in shock and awe. Altair just appeared beside Frankie and smacked him hard with his fist, knocking him out. Zach soon moved in and managed to get a couple of hits on Altair, but he soon disappeared and we saw Zach sent flying, hitting his head on the sand with a loud thud. Talim went to go heal the two while Altair just stomped on his foot again.

"Damn it…we gotta try something!" I said. Kilik then rushed into the fight, without even thinking, and Altair just knocked him out so fast I didn't even notice until Kilik was on the ground.

"Hmm, more and more food for me, heheh," Altair laughed in his squeaky voice.

"Is this dude a cannibal?" I asked. I soon saw Altair looking at Talim as he licked his lips hungrily.

"Hey! If you want to get to her, you gotta go through me!" I said as I stood between Altair and Talim. I saw Sosuke tending to Joseph's leg and Xianghua trying to wake Kilik up, dang…we're finished…but…I wasn't going to let that freaking cannibal hurt Talim. Suddenly, before Altair could take a step closer, someone just came out of nowhere and kicked Altair, sending him flying.

I soon saw who it was that saved us, it was an old man….okay a very old man, with a staff, yet he didn't have a hunched back or anything yet he still looked old. He went over to Joseph and crouched next to him.

"You're hurt…" he said in an old graveled voice, holy shit he sound just like that guy from fallout 3…I think he was that mayor of Megaton. He held his hand out and we saw water appear over the wound, and he combined it with wind, to heal the cut, along with the internal damage, and close it shut with the wind power. Joseph stood up, now on both legs, "Sweet! I couldn't do that in so long!" Joseph said and hopped up and down like a little kid at a circus.

"I think he's too happy…" I said with a sweat drop.

"Thanks man," Joseph said to the old man.

"A great power was sleeping in you, I just thought fixing your leg would help release it," the old man said. He soon helped Joseph up and whispered something into his ear. Joseph extended his hand, pointing two fingers, suddenly red lightning shot out of them.

"Whoa…" We all said. I soon saw the old man come and touch my forehead with two fingers. I soon looked at where my wounds were and a burning sensation went through my body, I saw my wounds healing instantly, soon after a few seconds they were gone.

"Snap your fingers…"

"Huh?" I asked the old man.

"Are you deaf? I said snap your fingers," he said. I did as the old man requested and saw my flame was stronger than before. We then saw Altair stagger from the kick he got from the old man and charged right towards him. But the old man soon did a triple bicycle kick on Altair.

"Whoa, the old guy got some moves…" Joseph said.

"Yeah…" I replied. Altair was soon charging towards Joseph now, but this time he was prepared. Joseph stomped his foot on the ground and a pile of rocks appeared and hurled toward Altair. I snapped my fingers and Altair was engulfed in my flames. Then me, Sosuke and Joseph did another tri-lightning attack on Altair and he was obliterated.

"Noo! Altair!" Ranvitchkus yelled.

"You're next dude!" I yelled to Ran. He snapped his fingers and disappeared into a portal of darkness.

"Damn…got away…" I muttered.

"Hey, anyone see where the old man went?" Zach asked. We looked around and saw the old man was indeed gone. We soon saw Conner's decapitated head and body and went to it.

"Man…to think Ranvitchkus got to him first…now I want to kill him for killing Conner before we could kill him!" I said and clenched my fist.

I felt something smack the back of my head, "Ow! Talim, why did you hit me?" I asked her.

"How can you just say that about Conner? He was still your friend wasn't he?" Talim asked.

"He was also a jerk who picked on Mark," Joseph said.

"Yeah, he was a major prick to all of us!" Frankie said.

"He was?" Talim asked.

"Yeah, that's why I wanted him dead so badly…but…I wanted him to die by my hands, not Ran's!" I yelled.

"Oh…I'm sorry…perhaps he did deserve it for picking on you so much…" Talim said.

"Yeah…come on let's get out of here…" I said as we went to our packs to see what we could salvage before leaving Conner's body.

"Hey, did any of you guys happen to have the map leading out of here?" Joseph asked.

…

Son of a bitch…

* * *

Meanwhile, another portal of darkness appeared as someone stepped out and went towards the corpse of Conner, he picked up the head and the body and walked through the portal while Mark and the others (well, Mark to be precise) were now moping over the loss of their map.

* * *

**Seems like Altair (and Conner somewhat) are now gone, but just who was that old man who saved the gang? And who took Conner's body? Find out in the next chapter. Which i shall do like the previews for Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Ahem...**

_There have been reports of a devil in the waters, who shall emerge to hunt its next victims and devour them all whole. This devil comes out at night durng a full moon, but can also come out during a storm. Next time on SOul Calibur: The Conflict of Souls: Chapter 12: The Devil of the Sea...be prepared to be swallowed up by the ocean's jaws._

**What'cha think? Cool eh?**


	13. The Devil of the Sea

**Hey everyone! School's out now so i can update freely now! And now here's the chapter i promised!**

**Disclaimer: i do not own Soul Calibur, i do own the original characters in the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Devil of the Sea**

Okay, asides from the fact we lost the map, we were very fortunate that there was an outpost where we could resupply, either there was a dumb stroke of luck we had right now or something else, I don't know, but thankfully we were resupplied and directed to the port in which we needed to head to Greece with.

We did however, get some warnings, one of the men at the outpost said to not leave the boat, another said to pray to god every night and a third said to forget about boat and go by land. They said there was a 'Devil' in the seas called Cervantes, who plunged ships and reaped a bounty in pillaging. Knowing Cervantes, I'd say he's definitely the same guy as they described him.

We were soon near the outskirts of the desert now and were camping out. At least we were able to get some food in our guts and it wasn't freezing like in the desert…heh, remind em of that one time I woke up and Talim was hugging me for warmth…what? I couldn't let her freeze, besides…I…kinda liked it…okays enough of the sappy stuff.

Well, right now I was just pacing around the sand, thinking…yeah I do that a lot, but I was thinking about Thanatos and that eye, not to mention about what Cervantes would do to us when we got to the ocean, and also about that old man who saved us, could he have been the hermit we've been looking for? Should've asked back at the outpost if they knew anything…Anyway, better try to hit the hay, which will be hard with all this sand everywhere, including in my…shoes, yeah, shoes.

Well it was hard trying to sleep when it was very cold, even if we were out of the desert it still felt so cold. I shivered…a lot…trying to keep warm. It wasn't until I felt something climb into my sleep mat that I was able to get warmer.

"Talim?" I asked softly. I heard a soft hum and knew it was her.

"Any reason for hugging me?" I asked softly so I wouldn't wake the others.

"You were cold…" Talim replied.

"…Thanks…" I replied. I felt Talim come closer to me, the heat from our bodies warming each other up…yeah…this is so worth it…

I woke up some time later to find myself hugging Talim with her head resting on my chest. I was so shocked…but…at the same time I didn't want to let go. I was torn between Talim in my arms and keeping my perverted side from going rampant at the seams…why does being a teenager have to suck? I heard a soft yawn and saw Talim waking up and she was now blushing when she saw us hugging each other. She scrambled out of my arms and turned away, I suspected she was blushing with embarrassment like I was.

"Uh...Talim? I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean for it to happen I swear!" I said to her in an attempt to calm her down. It seemed to work since she turned and looked at me, adverting her eyes a few times.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah, I woke up and saw I was hugging you for some reason, sorry," I replied.

"…It's okay…forgiven…" Talim said and smiled a little at me. I smiled, then saw the others were asleep as well but I think Joseph was starting to wake up…or he was dreaming about something. I sighed and decided to return to sleep, which happened again soon.

* * *

**Later that day…**

Well, agreeing to keep what happened earlier a secret from the others, me and Talim acted like nothing had happened, though it was a little awkward for us at times, we eventually forgot about it once we managed to reach the port.

Wow, this place was busy with activity, shop owners were busy with their wares, ships were dropping or unloading cargo, people were about buying or selling or something…man I love this place. We decided to see if we could find the guy who could take us to Greece, shouldn't be too hard right?

**Five minutes later…**

Okay…I lied…it IS hard to find the guy. We searched for hours and we couldn't find him…god this sucks. I soon heard someone coming and saw much to my surprise, that it was Seong Mina…along with Yun Seong…yep, definitely him, I recognize that bandana anywhere.

"Mina, what are you doing here?" Xianghua asked as the two came towards us.

"Well I had just found Yun here a while back and we heard some rumors going around of some kids controlling the elements around here," Mina said.

"At first I thought Mina was nuts, but after the story she told me and the rumors, I'm guessing it wasn't a story at all," Yun said. He soon leaned against a barrel and smirked, looking at Talim.

"You've gotten hotter since the last time I saw you," he said. Talim blushed a bit and I was trying to suppress the urge to burn him into cinders.

Mina noticed this and giggled, "Trying to not burn Yun?" she asked.

"He's pissing me off now…" I mumbled.

"Well, I have been wanting to see how strong your flames have become now, go ahead…show it to me" Mina said as she stood close to me. I grinned; I can't pass up an opportunity like this! I looked at Yun Seong and snapped my fingers. Oh the look on his face when I he burned, it was so priceless. Now he was just a burnt mass of himself as he fell over and was now bacon bits.

"Sorry, needed to test my fire and…well…yeah," I said with a grin. Talim then wacked me hard with the butt of her tonfa and I was now on the ground holding the back of my head in pain…I think I was bleeding too.

"I deserved that…" I said.

"Yes, you did…" Talim said. She did kneel down and healed the bump she made with her tonfa.

"Thanks…uh…sorry for burning you Yun," I said as Yun brushed the soot off him.

"It's alright, now I know those rumors were true about you wielding fire," Yun said and shook my hand.

I chuckled a bit from that then saw Frankie and Kilik coming towards us.

"We found the guy," they both said.

* * *

We were now on board the boat, thank god! Turns out this guy does sell some spices and a few other things to Greece, we were lucky he can also take travelers like us to places as well.

"Now then, I expect you all to help out around here, tend the sails, keep catalog of stock, that sort of thing," the sailor said.

"That sounds kinda like doing chores," Frankie mumbled.

"Well, we should at least do our part, he is letting us use his ship so we do owe him," I replied.

"Wow, that's the first smart thing you've said…who are you and what have you done with Mark?" Joseph asked.

"Nothing! Now shut up and let's work!" I said and followed the Captain. The next few hours were all of us helping around the ship, some of us worked with moving around cargo, tending the sails, others were helping make the food, cleaning, that sort of thing.

And…we also had some fights and betted who would win…I made such a killing, and some of the sailors did too whenever I fought. This did help me become fit, and it helped with my hand to hand combat skills. Later, I was standing by the rail of the ship, looking at the ocean with the sun setting; it was a peaceful scene really.

I heard someone coming up and glanced to see it was Talim.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone was up here so late," she said with a hint of surprise. I smiled a bit and turned to the ocean.

"I…wanted to see the ocean like this, I've heard the sunset from the ocean is beautiful, I wanted to see for myself," I told her. I was sort of half-lying to her; I did want to see the sun set by the ocean, just not on a boat. I felt something nudge my arm and saw Talim next to me, watching as well. It was an awkward moment between the two of us, alone on the deck of the ship, watching the sun set in the horizon.

…why…why is my heart racing so fast like this?

I felt something warm on my hand and saw it was Talim's hand on my own hand. We both pulled away, now making the moment more awkward.

"Uh…Mark?" Talim asked softly. I looked at her as she looked at me, "Uh…well…when we reach the hermit and he decides to teach us…will…you still be my student?" Talim asked.

"Sure, so…anything new with the weather?" I asked Talim.

"We should be okay for at least a day or two, when we reach Greece it'll rain," Talim said.

"Remind me to ask if you can teach me that," I mumbled.

"Why not now?" Talim asked with a little grin. I grinned as Talim told me about how to predict weather patterns. It was good…boring yet good too, and it would've been interesting if an arrow didn't try to lodge itself in my head…wait, what? We looked over the rim and saw another ship…with a pirate flag…oh crap!

"Pirates" I yelled into the main hull. The others began rushing into the deck as the pirate ship came closer and the pirates soon threw rope with grappling hooks and gangplanks and boarded the ship. Wait a minute; I could just burn their ship down. I got to their ship during the fray and snapped my fingers, boy did that baby burn. While most of the pirates went to put the flames out, some others tried to take what they could from the ship.

"Well, well, seems like they've got at least some good women here," a pirate said as another held Talim and Xianghua. Oh shite!

"Mmm, wonder if they'll be entertaining for us," another said and pulled out a knife. Oh over my dead body! I pointed my finger and shot lightning at one of them, poor bastard fell over after that shot.

"What the hell? Where'd that come from?" one of the pirates holding the girls asked. I wasted no time and elbowed the pirate with the knife and tossed him overboard.

"You two alright?" I asked the girls.

"We're fine now," Xianghua said and kissed my cheek.

"Yes, thank you," Talim said and kissed the other one.

…

…

Yes! This was turning out good, I sunk a ship, saved my friends, got kissed by Talim and Xianghua, I'm lucky! Too bad this little moment ended when the fighting stopped and footsteps were heard. We looked and saw a pirate with dark purplish clothes, and two swords with one looking like a gun or something.

Oh crap, Cervantes…

"Huh, so this is the little scallywag who took out my ship? Never expected him to be so…small…" Cervantes smirked.

Okay, time to pull an Edward Elric here.

"Who you calling 'small'?" I yelled and snapped my fingers. Cervantes nearly dodged my flames while the others watched.

"Did he just pull off an Edward Elric moment?" Joseph asked.

"I think he did…" Frankie replied. Cervantes dodged a lightning bolt and grinned.

"So ye can control the elements themselves, now this is a fight!" Cervantes said.

"Bring it on old man!" I yelled and charged at him.

* * *

**And this is the end of the chapter. So seems like i must face Cervantes now, this outta be good. Oh and also, i love FMA so that's why i did the Edward moment. Anywya, r&R plz!**


	14. Athenean Welcome

**Well after much procrastination and much ideas from my friend Blademster, i got this chapter ready. **

* * *

**Chapter 13: Athenian Welcome**

I slashed my sword as Cervantes blocked with his, when I saw he was about to fire that gun blade of his I got out of the way and shot a lightning bolt at him, then a flame blast to accompany it. Cervantes managed to dodge the lightning bolt but got burnt a little from the fire blast, not to mention setting his moustache on fire and his hat into ashes.

"Arr, that was my best hat too," Cervantes said as he fired another shot at me. This one whizzed past my fast and hit my shoulder. I held my shoulder in pain and tried to stop the bleeding, all the while dodging Cervantes's attacks.

"Hey, any help here guys?" I yelled to the others. A bolt of yellow lightning from Sosuke was a welcoming sign, followed by Talim helping me away from the fight and treating my wound.

"This is going to hurt a lot so bear with me," Talim said and dug her fingers to get the bullet. I couldn't help but yell in pain from this, and then stopped, sweating bullets as Talim held the bullet in her fingers.

"Easy, just rest," Talim said softly as she softly chanted and my wound closed up. Well least that was over. I just sat and watched the fight with Cervantes and Sosuke, wow, he's really good. I watched as Sosuke attacked Cervantes with a mix of sword attacks and lightning bolts. Man, I gotta try that tactic sometime…hmm, maybe a fire and lightning combo would be good.

I watched some more and saw Sosuke disarm Cervantes and hold his sword at his neck.

"Gah…you fight well…" the pirate chuckled lightly.

"I take that as a compliment; now let me ask you something: Do you know of a man named Malgreed?" Sosuke asked.

"Malgreed…hmm…I think I heard about him somewhere….yeah now I remember! Rumor's spreading that he's gathering some outlaws and other guys as evil as me for some big announcement, says his plan, if successful, will reshape the world," Cervantes said.

"Then why did you attack us?" Sosuke asked.

"I couldn't resist the plundering," Cervantes said.

***insert sweat-drop here***

"So…will ye let me go?" Cervantes asked Sosuke. Sosuke sighed and lowered his sword, that's when I saw Cervantes sneer and pulled out a pistol from his pocket.

"Sosuke! Get out of the way!" I yelled and snapped my fingers. Sosuke saw the pistol and dodged the bullet and watched as Cervantes was burnt by the flames and tried to jump into the sea to douse them. All we saw was the sliver of smoke from where Cervantes landed into the ocean.

"That…was close…thanks for the save Mark," Sosuke said and patted my back.

"Glad I could be of service…now just gotta wait until I can move my arm again…" I muttered and looked at my right arm. There was a loud snap and I felt both my arm move again and pain.

"Never mind!" I yelled and cringed in pain...

* * *

Well asides from the burn areas and a few chipped places, the ship to somehow managed to hold once we got into port in the city of Athens. I was glad too; I was tired of puking up my food overboard on the ship. I did like the atmosphere here in Greece, it was peaceful.

"So we're here, anyone up for some training?" I asked them.

"Good idea, it would give us a chance to train after what happened," Joseph said.

"Yeah…but we'll need to find a place to stay for a bit," Zach replied.

"Wait! I remembered that Cassandra lives here, we can ask her if we can stay with her," Talim realized.

Thank god for Cassandra…wait, doesn't she have a sister? Hmm…well we followed Talim to a large house somewhere outside the city…looks more like a Temple than a house. Talim knocked on the door and it opened.

"Talim? Is that you?" Cassandra asked as she looked at her friend and saw us.

"Oh seems you brought some friends…who are they?" Cassandra asked when she saw us.

"It's a long story," Talim said. Cassandra brought us into her temple-like home and Talim explained about what had happened and we had explained what was going on so far.

"Hmm…sounds like you guys had it made," Cassandra said.

"Yeah, so we need to train a bit and we kinda need a place to stay…" I chuckled nervously. Cassandra smirked and looked at us….well Me, Sosuke, Joseph, Frankie, and Zach to be precise. Uh…is that a seductive look in her eyes…oh god, please don't tell me…

"Alright, you guys can stay," Cassandra said. Just as we high-fived each other, she held up a hand.

"But! You gotta let me join your group," she finished.

"Let me guess, this is about your sister Sophitia?" Kilik asked.

"Yes…" Cassandra said solemnly.

"Don't worry; we'll help you find her," I told Cassandra, causing the others to look at me funny.

"What? I can't reassure her?" I asked them.

"Thanks for the concern, and I'm kinda glad for joining," Cassandra said.

"Thanks, so you'll let us use your place for now?" I asked her.

"Sure, follow me," Cassandra said and began to show us around. Wow, this place was fancy. Cassandra showed us some more of her house, and I was amazed it had a courtyard for practice. Cassandra showed us our rooms and let us be.

I had to admit, this place was rather nice, mm…I did like this place. I heard a knock on my door and let the person come in. It was Talim, and she was armed.

"Uh…what up with the tonfas?" I asked her.

"You said you wanted training right? Come on," Talim said and I followed her. She lead me to some sort of shrine…wait a minute I recognize this place! This was the main background for the Character creation in IV! I saw Talim twirl one of her tonfas then turn to me and took her stance.

I did the same with my katana, "Alright, you go," I told her. I made a HUGE mistake with that move, since in a span of…five…maybe thirty seconds, I got my ass beat…HARD. I am so thankful the others didn't see that, my reputation would've been crushed…

"Mark?" Talim asked as she looked at me, tilting her head in a cute way.

"I'm fine, my self-esteem however is bruised," I joked and got up.

Talim giggled from that little bit and smiled, "Sorry about ruining your self esteem," she said with a smile.

God damn it…I couldn't be mad at her, I mean, look at her! She's so innocent…heh, must be rubbing off on her a bit, but just look at her, she's my age too, plus she's attractive…I didn't realize I was looking over her body until Talim poked me with the butt of her tonfa.

"If you're done looking at me," Talim said with a blush on her face. I couldn't help but blush with embarrassment from that.

"Uh…sorry…I was….well…" I began, trying to say something. Talim giggled cutely from my attempts at trying to apologize and patted my head playfully.

"Its fine, so wanna continue?" Talim asked.

"Alright, but I won't hold back this time!" I said and charged at her, the two of us grinning as I swung my katana at her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ranvitchkus was still reeling over the loss of Altair, while Thanatos was recovering from the attack back at Azad, but he still wore the helmet he always wore.

"Why do you even wear that thing anyway?" Ranvitchkus asked Thanatos.

"Why are you asking now?" Thanatos asked.

"No but ever since I met you a while back you never take it off, why is that?" Ranvitchkus asked.

"Long story, but I never take it off; I want the surprise to be…epic…" Thanatos said with what Ranvitchkus thought was a grin under the helmet.

"…right…but we're down one guy because of that old man, unless Malgreed comes with a replacement in the next ten seconds (if he does, I'll pay you $10 Thanatos), I don't think we'll stand a chance against those guys next time," Ranvitchkus said.

As if on cue or by some super hearing, Malgreed entered the room with a hooded figure with its head down, but the two of them saw…or felt something emanating from the figure. It was cold…like ice, and there was a glow in the figure's eyes.

"Gentlemen, I'd like to present your newest ally," Malgreed said with his hand on the figure's shoulders. The figure just lifted its head slowly, letting out a long drown out moan.

"…okay…what the hell is this…thing?" Ranvitchkus asked.

"A new recruit I found and had patched up," Malgreed said and looked at the figure. "Don't be shy, say something," he said to it like a father to son.

**"…..The…Game…."** the figure rasped. Ranvitchkus and Thanatos immediately realized what…or rather, _who_ it was before them.

"You didn't…" They both said.

"Oh I did…I think this shall be the beginning of a very…extraordinary…adventure for all of us," Malgreed said with a grin.

"Ran, pay up," Thanatos said and extended his hand.

"It's Ranvitchkus!" Ranvitchkus said as he gave him the money from the bet.

"Alright you two, come, we must get ready, we'll be having guests over for a little….meeting…" Malgreed said as he took his new subject with him.

"Oh this outta be good," Thanatos said as he pocketed the $10.

* * *

**yep, I brought back an old frenemy from the dead, but what powers does he have now? Also, what will happen now with Cassandra in the group? Find out next time, and R&R plz!**


	15. Meeting of Evil

**Okay, here's the new chapter, also, there going to be some "fan service" moment from here on out, also, a familiar character will return, but now badder than ever! Anyway, enjoy!**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 14: Meeting of Evil**

Malgreed, Thanatos, Ranvitchkus and the newly reborn Conner were heading to the Throne room for an important meeting. Although Malgreed didn't tell them what the meeting was for, but it was very important for their plans. The four soon arrived and saw practically every villain in the Soul Calibur world before them…minus Ivy, Raphael and Amy.

"You Malgreed? The one who called us?" Astaroth asked him as the four came in.

"Yes, and I'm glad you all came," Malgreed said as he sat down on the throne.

"So why'd you call us here anyway?" Necrid asked.

"You all wish for one thing and that is power, I myself want power, but I need Soul Edge and Soul Calibur for that to happen," Malgreed told them.

"But doesn't that Algol guy have them?" Astaroth asked.

"They're not the real things, Nightmare and Siegfried have them," Thanatos said.

"Who's the dude with the helmet?" Necrid asked Lizardman.

"Don't know ***grunt, grunt*** but I'm sensing ***snort*** something bad ***snarl*** in him ***growl***" Lizardman stated.

"Now then, before we continue with this discussion, does anyone have a say in this?" Malgreed asked.

"For one, what about that guy in the hood?" Tira (cheery half) asked, pointing innocently at Conner.

"Oh Conner? He's a new recruit after Altair was destroyed by Mark and his friends," Malgreed said.

"So…that landlubber I met before was Mark huh? I can see how that Altair feller was killed," A grisly voice said. Everyone looked and they were surprised that Cervantes was there, dripping wet and his clothes were burnt and some patches of his skin were burnt and had jaw marks on them.

"Yeesh, what the hell happened to you?" Necrid asked him.

"Mark and his friends, and that boy…Sosuke I think it was, they got me, forced me to squeal, and when I was going to kill Sosuke, Mark just snapped his fingers and burnt me, I jumped to the ocean to douse the flames out and nearly got bitten by a shark," Cervantes said.

"Wow…" Thanatos muttered.

"Sosuke…that's a name I haven't heard of in a while," Malgreed muttered. Cervantes looked at him with slight anger and annoyance.

"Wait, you know that landlubber and you didn't tell me?" he yelled and prepared to take out his pistol sword to shoot Malgreed. Before that could happen, a trail of black ice immediately stopped Cervantes, freezing both his legs up to his neck. The temperature also got colder **(Brrrrr, it's so cold!-Tira (cherry half))** and Conner had his hand outstretched like he used a spell or something.

"What the- How'd he do that?" Ranvitchkus asked.

"I not only revived him using some dark magic, but also I gave him some new…perks, if you will," Malgreed said with a smirk.

"Dark ice…colder than regular ice and can kill a person in minutes if fully incased," Thanatos remarked grimly. The dark ice receded and Cervantes shivered, even thought he was technically undead…or sort of undead, it felt like he was in a coffin somewhere in a tomb.

"Hey where's Voldo?" Cervantes asked.

"Dead…" Thanatos replied.

"Let me guess, you killed him?" Astaroth asked him. Thanatos nodded and looked at Conner. _'I wonder what else Malgreed gave Conner…' _he wondered.

"Alright, Conner, I want you to go and see how your friends are doing, alright?" Malgreed asked him. Conner nodded and went through a dark portal that opened up.

"As for the rest of you, find nightmare and deliver Soul Edge here," Malgreed told the others.

They all nodded and left, leaving Thanatos and Ranvitchkus with Malgreed.

"Why'd you send Conner? You know they'll figure something's wrong when they see him," Ranvitchkus said.

"I know…" Malgreed simply said.

"You sent him on a suicide run then," Thanatos realized.

"Yep, plus I want to test some bonds between the group," Malgreed said with a smirk.

"Now this I gotta be a part of," Ranvitchkus said with enthusiasm.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

Okay, after some training, our group (now with Cassandra) was heading north to where the hermit lived, supposedly. It was kinda weird having Cassandra with us, she was nice and all, but I swear I thought she winked at me once when no one was looking…maybe I'm nervous.

Anyway, right now we were just walking; Cassandra was leading the way since she knew the land well, which was easy for us. I was kinda glad for the change of pace, it was peaceful, and I was glad since I could relax a bit knowing we're close to the hermit.

**Few minutes later…**

Man, Athenians really know how to make good food, even though I have no idea what the heck is in this stuff, it was good. What? As long as it's edible, I'm okay with it. I was pigging out a bit (I'm a piggy, heh), and the others were eating as well. I noticed Joseph was having a sandwich away from us and I also saw Cassandra going towards him…

Oh this outta be good…

Joseph was busy eating his sandwich away from the others; he wanted to eat in peace from the rest of the group. He heard someone coming towards him and turned to see Cassandra in front of him.

"Oh hey Cassandra, what's up?" Joseph asked her.

"Just wondering what you're doing," she asked.

"Eating a sandwich…" Joseph replied.

"Oh…" Cassandra said, looking at Joseph. "You know, they told me you're from Guyana, where is it?" Cassandra asked him as she scooted closer to him.

"It's a small country in South America, very hot in the summer," Joseph said.

"Oh really?" Cassandra asked with a twinkle in her eye. Joseph noticed that and Cassandra moving towards him, plus he glanced at her chest, noting the fact she was purposely giving him the "full view" of them.

"Heh, you're a daring one aren't you?" Joseph smirked.

"Bring it home Joseph!" Mark called to his friend.

"I'm in the middle of something!" Joseph told his friend.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

Wow, I never thought he'd actually go through with this, but here he is flirting with Cassandra…lucky little bastard.

"Huh, this is going to be interesting," Frankie stated.

"Hell yeah," I muttered. All activity stopped when we heard the snap of a twig, we stalled, but slowly drew our weapons (and readied our elemental attacks). We turned and got ready to attack whoever was behind us.

It was Conner…wait…What the hell?

"Conner?" We all asked him.

"Heh, hey guys…" he said meekly, noticing our weapons drawn.

"We saw you get killed, how'd you survive?" I asked him.

"Ranvitchkus didn't really behead me, he just cut my neck slightly, listen, I'm staying at a hotel not too far from here, come on, they got room," Conner said and ran ahead of us.

"He's so fibbing; we all saw his head get chopped off, something's up…" Kilik said.

"Let's follow him, just in case," Joseph said.

"Right…but if he says 'Game' one more time…" Sosuke said as lightning appeared in his hand.

"Not after I burn him he won't," I said.

We all agreed to keep an eye on Conner and followed him to the hotel. Well he was right on one thing, the place looked nice and it was free too. Maybe he's not such a dirt bag after all. We stepped inside, but as soon as we did a portal appeared and we got sucked in.

* * *

"I take back what I said!" I yelled. I soon landed on something solid then something landed on my face, amongst other things that ell on top of that.

"Ooh that hurt…" I heard Mina moan.

"Okay, whose hand is on my boob?" I heard Cassandra ask furiously.

"I…can't…breathe…" I mumbled from whatever I was under.

"Mark, where are you?" Joseph had asked.

"I'm under someone right now…" I replied.

"Oh, sorry Mark," Xianghua said as she got up. Well now I knew what was on top of me, I got up, shaking my head a bit to get rid of the feeling of being smushed.

"Where are we?" I asked them.

"Anyone know where Sosuke is?" Joseph asked.

"Uh…he's right here…" we heard Mina said nervously. I nearly laughed when I saw Mina on her back with Sosuke in her chest…I think he was out cold…no wait he's getting up.

"Ooh…what the? Where am I? And why is the ground so soft?" he asked groggily.

"Probably because you're in my chest," Mina pointed out. Sosuke's face went red like a tomato as he quickly got out of Mina's chest and started apologizing.

"I-I'm sorry Mina, it was an accident I swear!" he said.

"It's okay Sosuke, it was an accident…but I'm going to kill Conner for tricking us like that," Mina said.

"Yeah, where is that little punk?" Yun Seong asked as we looked around.

"Oh I'm here," Conner said as he appeared before us from a cliff looming above us. Not only that, but we soon saw spears and saw black lizards holding them, they looked like Lizardmen, only black scaled. I snapped my fingers to burn them, but they were gone in a blur and soon I had spears blocking my movements.

"Conner…why?" I asked when I felt a sudden cold snap hit us.

"W-W-why is it so cold?" Mina shivered. We saw Conner coming down towards us, as stairs made of ice appeared below to let Conner come down in an ice staircase. But this ice was black, and very cold.

"You can control ice?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, thank Malgreed for giving me this ability, along with bringing me back," Conner said. I felt my hand move for a second so I snapped my fingers, sending a burst of flame at Conner, burning him. I had thought it worked, when the flames subsided I saw burn marks on Conner's left side, but it turned to dread when I saw the scars healing with red lightning appearing. It looked like the regeneration of a Homunculus from FMA.

"No way…" I muttered.

"Malgreed gave me these powers as well," Conner said. He then looked at each of us, admiring the girls to an extent, when he noticed Cassandra and smirked.

"Wow, you're kinda hot, wonder how Mark managed to get you to join his group," he smirked as he fingered Cassandra's chin.

"Fuck off you pervert," Cassandra replied to him darkly.

"Tch, bitch…" Conner growled and turned to me.

"I've been waiting to do this for a long time, I am surprised you've gotten so many girls with you, and you were afraid in our world," Conner said.

"Only because most of the girls never shut up," I mumbled.

"True…but why care now?" Conner asked me.

"They're my friends, and they're better friend than a traitor like you!" I yelled at him.

"Hmm…let's test that shall we?" Conner said. He whistled and some of the lizards let Talim go as he went to her, snatching her from the ground and ran to the ledge.

"No!" I yelled and tried to break free.

"If you wanna save your girlfriend, the follow the trail of ice!" Conner yelled and disappeared.

Okay…now I'm REALLY going to kill him…

* * *

**Oh no! Talim was taken by Conner! what will happen now? Stay tuned to find out! R&R plz!**


	16. Fire and Ice

**Man its like...10:45 pm here! Well it took a while but here's chapter 15 like i promised. Oh and also this chap alludes to a scene from FMA Brotherhood, you gotta watch it to understand where it is. anyway, enjoy!****Chapter 15: Fire and Ice**

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I managed to get free from the black Lizardmen, burning them with a snap of my fingers, and ran after Conner, god I was seriously pissed at him.

"You guys hold these things off, Conner's mine!" I told them.

"Just save some for us!" Kilik yelled as he and the others attacked the Lizardmen. I nodded and ran after Conner, following the trail of frost and ice that he left behind.

Why do I feel like this is a trap?

Anyway, I ran, following the ice trail, until I discovered something that looked either like a cathedral or something like that. Anyway I soon entered and saw the main hall…wow…I always wrote about castles with main halls…but this takes the cake. But enough looking around, I was here for something else.

"Conner! Where are you?" I yelled into the empty hall.

"Here…" Conner said as he had Talim next to him.

"I have to say, this girl is rather enjoyable company I'll give you that, I'm surprised she's actually talking to you," Conner said.

"Release her Conner…" I growled.

"Or what? We both know you can't kill anyone even if you tried!" Conner exclaimed. I heard a snarl and saw one of the black Lizardmen jumping behind me, I dodged it, snapped my fingers and watched it burn.

"That's it? I thought it would be more of a-" a kick from a scaly clawed foot cut me off as I skidded to the ground. I looked and saw the Lizardman I burned, only its wounds were now healing and ice began to envelop it, transforming it into some sort of ice-Lizardman-thing.

"What the fuck?" I yelled. The Frost Lizardman (as I now dub it) punched me hard into the wall. I coughed up spit with some blood mixed into it as I saw the dark ice from the lizard creeping along my body. I tried to snap my fingers for some fire, but my right arm was frozen.

"Shit…" I moaned as the ice was at my neck.

"Man, this just proves how weak you are," Conner said as he shook his head with a smirk.

"You're wrong!" Talim yelled, much to our surprise. "You may think Mark's weak, but…he's strong, he actually cares about his friends, unlike you!" Talim pointed her finger at Conner, "You're just someone who loves to irritate people, ever since you joined all you did was insult and make fun of Mark when he never did anything bad to you, so just leave him and the rest of us alone!" Talim yelled her face red from the yelling.

"Whoa…" I said with awe and shock from sweet-innocent Talim just blowing up like that.

"Wow…I guess some of Mark rubbed off on you after all," Conner said.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," Talim stuttered when she realized what she said.

"Actually that was good," I said to her.

"I'll admit, I was even speechless," Conner muttered.

"Uh…thanks…heh, "Talim giggled with a blush on her face. This moment would've been nice, if there wasn't dark ice creeping up my body and about to cover my face.

"Uh Talim, some help would be nice," I told her. Talim nodded and soon began to attack Conner, who made a sword out of the black ice and attacked Talim with it. I struggled trying to get out of the ice trap and felt the ice around my right arm weakening. I looked and saw the ice melting from the heat of me trying to get a flame started.

When the ice soon melted to be broken, I managed to break my hand free, and then proceeded to burn that Frost Lizardman into a smoking carcass. I managed to get the rest of my body free and went to fight with Talim. I soon saw that Conner had Talim at knife-point as he turned to me, holding the dagger at Talim's throat.

"One more step, and I'll slit her throat," Conner said, his tone obviously angry and tired from fighting her.

"You wouldn't…" I said. Conner made a little nick on Talim's neck, causing some blood to drip from the cut. Now I was afraid, my body going cold with fear and dread, matching the same feeling Talim must've been feeling.

"She's got nothing to do with this, let her go!" I yelled.

"Ho ho…you finally show some feelings for her…alright, let's have a little game, if you can beat me before her heart gives out from being frozen, I'll let her go and tell you all that I know, if not…well you get the picture!" Conner said as he froze Talim on the spot and charged at me.

Okay, even I knew Conner wouldn't go this far…but he wasn't the same Conner…which meant I didn't have to hold back! I soon was fighting with Conner, snapping my fingers, shooting a raging inferno in an attempt to beat him. But…Conner kept regenerating and countering with ice attacks…I don't know if I could beat him.

Conner used this momentary opening as a way to flick my sword out of my hand and bound me to the ground with ice around my hands and legs, preventing me from moving. I tried to move but couldn't and saw Conner looking at me.

"Heh, look at you, I guess you really are so weak you can't save your girlfriend," Conner smirked. I looked at him, then at Talim's frozen body, fearing that she might die at any moment. I saw her eyes move briefly to look at me…damn it…why am I so weak? Why? If I didn't get up then Talim would…no…I…I won't let that happen!

* * *

Conner turned away from his friend as he advanced to Talim, a smirk on his face as he let some of the ice disappear, letting Talim breath.

"Since my friend isn't going to help you now, how about you and I get to know each other a little-" Conner stopped when he felt the room getting hotter and turned around to see a torrent of flame coming at him. Conner got most of the flames with some managing to melt the ice away.

"Impossible, Mark's flames can't be this strong," Conner muttered until he saw Mark. Only thing different was the flames behind him and the fact his eyes looked like he was going to kill someone…for Conner he realized why Mark was looking at him like that.

"Go ahead, you wouldn't," Conner told him. Sadly for him, Mark did. Mark snapped his fingers as Conner was lit on fire, but due to his regeneration his body would just heal itself.

"You said as long as you keep healing you'd be unable to die right?" Mark asked Conner as he burnt him some more.

"Well…I'll just keep burning you till your dead!" He said. Conner only felt the pain of being burnt like this, was this torture for trying to kill Talim? He couldn't believe Malgreed had asked him to come…wait…did Malgreed send him here knowing he'd die. Did he set this all up?

Mark looked at the flames to see if Conner was alive, he saw the body rise and try to lunge at him, yelling. Mark just snapped his fingers as the bodied burned again, setting a small explosion to occur. The flames were soon gone as Conner looked at Mark, then his body began to turn to ash.

"Damn…I can't believe…you'd actually kill someone…even me…heh…I guess I deserved it…" Conner looked at Mark's eyes, catching the cold glare in them.

"Heh…I like those eyes, cold, always focused on what's ahead…but…the day when those eyes are clouded by rage, sorrow and fear…won't be long now…" Conner said as he disintegrated into dust.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I had no idea what came over me, I was so angry at Conner that by the time I realized what I did Conner was soon gone.

"No….w-what have I done?" I said with realization. I felt o filthy…but…happy…I had killed Conner, I felt sad…but…why did I feel so happy?

"Mark?" Talim's concerned voice asked me.

"I killed him…I finally killed him…" I muttered. I soon started laughing; yeah I'm pulling off a Kira moment right now.

"Mark you gotta get a hold of yourself, this isn't like you!" Talim said a in a desperate move to control me, smacked me hard across the face. There was silence for a few minutes, I was confused…but that slap helped me regain my sanity…or what was left of it…

"Mark?" Talim asked worryingly. I lowered my head from its original position (it being thrown back from laughing) and looked at her, smiling. Talim smiled, seeing as how I regained my sanity. She hugged me, letting me rest my head on her shoulder.

"Mark…I saw everything…your eyes…you scared me…you were so different, so…cold…" Talim said trying to hold back tears.

"Shh, its okay, I'm better now, I promise, I won't do that again…" I whispered to her, trying to console her. I still felt shaken by what I did to my fri-…no…that..._thing_…wasn't my friend anymore…not now…or ever…

* * *

Malgreed, Thanatos and Ranvitchkus watched the whole thing from a pool of water as the image vanished.

"Whyd di you send him if you knew he'd die?" Ranvitchkus asked Malgreed.

"I wanted to test Mark's abilities under pressure…and he passed…now the real fun begins…" Malgreed grinned.

* * *

**Well, Conner's gone for good, but now i'm afraid of what i did. What will happen to us now? And what's the 'Real fun' Malgreed is talkign about? Stay tuned to find out! and R&R plz!**


	17. Conflict

**Hey guys, here's my 16th chapter for the Soul Calibur story, and also, there is a lot of emotion here...well not really, but its a start. Anyway, i got the idea of what to do from my friend Josephuzumaki, thanks dude! he's a good pal. anyway, let's begin!****Chapter 16: Conflict**

* * *

I regained my sanity a few minutes later and got up just as the others were coming.

"What happened?" They asked.

"Nothing you need to know about…" I told them. They didn't ask anymore, but the scorch marks on the ground and the burnt Lizardman abomination were proof enough.

"Let's head to Element Mountain," Joseph suggested. We soon left the castle, but Talim and I were silent while we traveled, neither of us wanting to talk about the events from before.

Suddenly a bunch of Lizardmen appeared out of nowhere and surrounded us and attacked us.

"Aw crap!" Joseph said as he readied Brionac, I just snapped my fingers and burned the Lizardmen to ashes…like last time.

"Whoa, when did Mark get that strong?" Joseph asked with surprise.

"When…when he killed Conner," Talim said, then started crying, remembering the cold look in Mark's eyes during the whole experience. While Mina and Xianghua were comforting Talim, the guys were surprised about what Talim said.

"Wait, so you killed Conner?" Zach asked me with surprise. "Man you beat me to the punch," Zach replied.

I just gave Zach a menacing look that scared the pants off him (and the others I might add), "No jokes or else…" I said to him. The others all huddled into a circle and began to discuss something.

"Great, Mark's gone emo on us," Joseph muttered.

"What should we do?" Mina asked.

"I say we attack him, to get his spirits up," Joseph said.

"But won't he think we'll try to kill him and attack for real?" Frankie asked.

"Maybe, but it's worth the risk," Joseph said. They all agreed and soon turned to me; I looked at them, and then was surprised when they attacked me. So…what's how they want to be huh? Alright then, I'll show them what happens when you mess with me!

* * *

Joseph and the others charged and attacked Mark, hoping to get his warrior spirit up, except Mark thought they were doing it for real and was attacking for real. Mark was soon attacking, leaving some scars and cuts; he even knocked out Talim into unconsciousness.

"I think he's serious this time!" Cassandra said as she got a cut to the side by Mark.

"Okay, that's it!" Sosuke said as he disarmed Mark and held him down.

"Master, do it now!" Sosuke said to Joseph. Joseph nodded and smashed the butt of Brionac in Mark's face, causing him to black out.

"Well, I think it's safe to say we'll never try that again," Xianghua said as she sheathed her sword. Mina was busy trying to bring Talim back, which worked as she was opening her eyes.

"Talim…tell us, what the freaking hell happened to you and Mark?" Mina asked her. Talim sighed and looked down shamefully.

"W-well…" Talim began.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I regained consciousness a few hours later after Joseph hit me with the butt of his sword…ow…damn that thing hits deep.

"Well, look who finally decided to wake up…" Kilik said as Joseph was healing the others with his water dagger. I turned away from the others, and then noticed I was staring at a wall, then realized we must be in an Inn somewhere.

"Where are we?" I asked, still not looking at them.

"In an Inn at the base of Five Elements Mountain," Mina said.

"…really?" I asked.

"Yeah, Joseph knocked you out longer than we thought so we had to carry you here," Mina replied. I smiled a bit, thankful the others couldn't see.

"…Talim told us what happened…" Sosuke told me. I froze, damn it Talim, you had to tell them…

"She told us about how you burned Conner ferociously," Sosuke continued. "And about how you didn't show remorse…you pretty much scared her…" he said.

Great, now I felt like a total douche for what I did. I glanced back and noticed Joseph healing Cassandra from that cut I gave her, though it was kinda funny when she hugged Joseph as a 'thank you' for healing her. When I glanced at Talim I froze, I couldn't look her in the eye after what I did, and she probably sees me as a monster now.

I heard the others leave and the door shut, so I decided to glance a little to see everyone gone except Talim.

"….do you hate me?" I asked, not looking at her.

"A little…but…I was terrified for my life after seeing you so mad…" Talim said.

"Am…I a monster to you?" I asked her, in a tone that sounded like a child to its mother.

"No…it's just…back there…what Conner said and did…and how you reacted was just so…extreme…I never saw you like that before…it was scary…and...Your eyes…" Talim shuddered. I felt even lower than before from her saying that…did I really go out of control?

"But…you did it to protect me…otherwise I'd be dead…" I heard her say, except she was much closer now. Now I was confused so I turned around, but that would lead to one of the best thirty seconds of my life. As soon as I turned around apparently Talim wanted to try and hug me, except she leaned forward when I turned around and then bam!

Our lips suddenly connected in that instant…

…oh…my…god…this…this was….amazing…wow…her lips were soft…

Oh right, Talim. We both broke away, now the two of us (well…mainly Talim) were beet red so we turned away, not wanting to look at each other, but heavily embarrassed. I smirked with silent victory, beside me, Talim put two fingers on her lips, I think she was smiling as well…I couldn't see.

"Uh…I'll take that as a thank you?" I asked her. Talim nodded and turned, both of us smiled. Suddenly Talim was gone, I got up and looked around and saw an old man holding her.

"Hey! Let her go!" I yelled. The old man just looked at me then disappeared just as the others came in.

"Where's Talim?" Joseph asked.

"Gone! Some old dude took her!" I told him.

"He's heading to Five Element Mountain!" Cassandra called as she ran to us. We all were now running towards the mountain, follow a trail that lead to a small wooden cabin near a cave. We looked in the cabin, discovering some lamps, and used them in our trek into the cave. We walked into the cave, the temperature getting colder, until we saw light up ahead.

We saw Talim chained to a wall, "Talim!" I called out to her. Talim moaned a bit and rolled her head. I went towards her to get rid of the chains, but something grabbed my leg, causing me to fall onto the ground.

"Ow…what was that?" I asked as I looked at my ankle. It looked like some sort of metallic whip or something…hang on…I think I remember seeing something like that somewhere. We heard the sound of someone coming and looked as the metal whip sword retracted to its owner.

That's when we saw who it was, it was Ivy…oh god not her. I'm pretty sure the girls were all envious with Ivy's lack of clothing and her breasts, while the guys (myself included) nearly got blood falls (nosebleeds) from looking at her chest.

"Hmm, I knew you'd come…" Ivy said.

"Did you take Talim?" I asked her.

"Her? When I came here an old man arrived and put her there, said something about a test…all I know is that he mentioned you and I want some revenge for what you did to Cervantes," Ivy said.

Shit, I forgot Cervantes was Ivy's father, guess she wants to kill me…but the old man…could he be the hermit we're looking for?

"Alright, guys, you get Talim out from the wall, I got Ivy," I told them.

"How come you get the busty chick?" Zach asked.

"I don't know! Just get Talim," I yelled.

I heard Ivy giggle and turned to her, "Sorry, you boys are just too cute," she said.

"We're not cute!" I told her, my face heating up.

"Aww, Mark's blushing!" Zach said with a smirk.

I snapped my fingers, letting some fire nearly hit him, he backed off. I pulled out my sword and looked at Ivy, who lashed her whip-sword with a snap. I steadied and then charged at Ivy, yelling a war-cry as I did.

* * *

**Oh this is getting intense, now that Ivy's here, what'll happen next? Stay tuned! and R&R plz!**


	18. A Test gone Wrong

**Well here's chapter 17, its short i know but i had some thing to do so this was the best i could do. The next one will be good, i promise. Anyway, here it is!**

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* * *

**

**Chapter 17: A Test gone wrong**

I slashed my sword at Ivy, who had blocked it with her own sword; she then unlatched it into the whip mode and tried to slash me with it. The whip managed to scar my cheek but I managed to step back before it could do any more damage. Man, why did Ivy have to be so damn hot?

"What's wrong? If you can't fight me how can you save your girlfriend over there?" Ivy asked, pointing her sword at where Talim was. Damn it! If I didn't beat her then…wait a minute my friends would get Talim out of there.

Still, I charged at Ivy and slashed at her. The next few minutes were of us trying to get a hit on each other, Ivy kept blocking with her whip/sword, making it difficult to hit her. Damn, need an edge or something. I soon heard someone running and looked to see Talim attacking Ivy with her tonfas.

"Man I'm glad you're here," I said. Unfortunately I was soon caught in the crossfire of their catfight and unfortunately they both decided to take it out on me…the horror…I won't even tell you what happened, you'll have to use your imagination. But I did manage to crawl out of there and was saved by Mina and Xianghua.

"You okay?" Mina asked.

"Do I look okay to you?" I asked her.

"Uh…no," Mina replied.

"That's my answer…" I told her. I watched the fight between Talim and Ivy while I was getting healed, wow; Talim's cute when she's mad. I did wince when Ivy elbowed Talim, but this catfight just got better, if only I had a camera. I saw Talim dodge Ivy's whip and slashed at Ivy, managing to get her shoulder strap holding…er…what was left of the clothing covering her top.

Ivy yelped and tried to reattach the strap, with us guys nearly getting nosebleeds (I think Yun Seong nearly got a heart attack from that). Ivy soon ran out of there with embarrassment as I tried to control myself…I think Yun Seong just fainted…yep, he fainted. I got up and went to Talim to congratulate her for winning, but only got the butt of her tonfas as a response.

"Haven't I suffered enough?" I yelled to no one in particular. Talim noticed who she hit and shook me if I was okay.

"I'm fine, stop shaking!" I told her. She stopped and I held my nose. "Damn…first caught in a catfight and now this…my life sucks…" I sighed.

Talim smiled a little and hugged me, "I'm sorry…" she said softly. I smiled a bit and hugged back, the others all going "Aww…" from this. We soon heard clapping, I thought it was the others, but they looked around since it wasn't them. We soon heard someone coming, and we saw it was the old man from before.

"You!" I yelled and pulled out my katana to charge at him. The old man just raised his hand and I was sent flying by a gust of wind, hitting the wall, and having my arms and legs restrained by cuffs made of earth.

"Calm yourself child, yes I took the girl from you, but it was to test your resolve to save her, you passed, but calm down and sheath your sword, and I will take you all to my home so we may discuss further," the old man said calmly. Surprisingly his voice sounded young, despite his age.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"Me? I am merely an old man returning from some errands to discover some guests near my home," he said.

"Wait, are you the hermit sage? The one who mastered all the elements?" Joseph asked.

"Oh…you've come for that…yes; I am the hermit you've been searching for, and I was the one who saved you from that beast known as Altair," the hermit said. I was stunned to say the least, to learn that the man who saved us is standing before us so…humbly. He went to the wall I was on, tapped it twice with his staff and I was freed, then he banged on it with his fist and it suddenly began to open like a door.

"Welcome children, to my home," the hermit said.

* * *

**Well, we've finally met the hermit, and Ivy's run off with embarrassment XD. Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	19. The Search ends, the training begins

**Yeah, sorry for the short chappie, but at least this one shows a lot of things about where the hermit lives. So enjoy the chapter. Oh and also i will be adding songs to the story at certain events like fights or something. The song i've chosen now is "Arche Kloen Falls" from .Hack G.U. Vol. 1-Rebirth. Just to let you know, the songs play whenever there's an * and i do not own the songs!****Chapter 18: The Search ends, the Training begins**

* * *

*As soon as the door opened I nearly gaped with shock…okay I did gape. It was a large forest, lake and streams included, as well as a large monastery below.

"Where the hells are we, Shangri-La?"I asked aloud.

The hermit just chuckled, "Not actually, though many believe it is," the hermit said.

"I thought it was in a valley," Xianghua stated.

"Many people believe it's in a valley, some believe it's in a mountain, usually many believe it's in the valley," the hermit said.

"I heard people in Shangri-La are said to be immortal and age very slowly, having an extended lifetime," I said.

"Huh, I never noticed that," the hermit said as we reached the monastery. It looked like something out of "Avatar: the Last Airbender"…only more cooler and real, not like the movie that sucked ass. It looked like a large priory mixed with one of those temples the Buddhist monks live in…sweet.

"Wow…" Joseph said as he and the others looked around.

"Wise hermit, you never told us your name," Sosuke said. Hey that's right, he never did tell us his name.

"I have long since forgotten my original name…but you may call me E" E said.

"E?" I asked.

"E…" E replied.

"E..." Joseph said.

"Yes, E" E replied.

"E…" Frankie muttered.

"E…E…" Zach whispered.

"Okay can we please stop?" Sosuke asked.

"Sorry," we all chorused.

E just chuckled and led us inside, "I rarely get visitors around here, usually they're fools trying to learn from me and many don't even know how to summon their element, when I met you I had thought you were just some children who were in a fight. But when I sensed the powers you wielded inside of you, I was surprised. I also saw how you had killed that Conner fellow Mark…you need to control that anger, otherwise it will consume you…" E told me.

I stopped and sighed, you didn't have to reopen _that_ wound E.

"So, we came all this way to see if you could teach us how to control the elements we know, and considering Mark, he definitely could use it," Joseph said. I was seriously on the verge of about to beat the living shit out of him, but one glance from E stopped me cold.

I sighed and snuffed down my anger, no use fighting here.

"Hmm…considering the circumstances…very well, I'll train you," E said. Sweet! We all congratulated each other, happy now we can train with Elder E.

"Well, you guys have fun," Kilik said as he turned to leave.

"Wait, you're not staying?" I asked him.

"We only came with you guys to get to E, but don't worry, we'll see you again sometime," Kilik said.

"Right, Zach, I take it you're going?" I asked him.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll visit when we can," Zach said.

"Good luck man," Joseph said.

"Right, later!" Zach said as he went with Kilik and Xianghua.

"I'll miss him…" Talim said.

"We all will…so E, when do we begin training?" I asked him.

"Tomorrow, once I show you around some more," E grinned and we followed him.

* * *

Meanwhile, at Ostrheinsburg…

Malgreed, Thanatos and Ranvitchkus were watching from a pool of water Kilik, Xianghua and Zach.

"Well they're gone from the group," Ranvitchkus said.

"But now they found Elder E…" Thanatos finished.

"No matter, the plan still goes into motion, but you two will have to train harder now to match them, especially you Thanatos," Malgreed told them.

"Yeah, yeah I get it," Thanatos said in a bored tone.

"You should be grateful I got you out of that gate, otherwise you'd still be back behind it," Malgreed said.

"Never! I'll never go back there!" Thanatos stated.

"Heh, chicken shit…" Ranvitchkus said.

"Shut up Ran…" Thanatos said.

"It's Ranvitchkus! Get it right!" Ranvitchkus yelled.

"Enough! Now get to training!" Malgreed said to them. The two headed off, each of them glaring at the other.

"Honestly…hmm…I wonder if I can do the same with Thanatos to one of Mark's friends…but which one?" Malgreed mumbled.

* * *

**Well, now we've found Elder E, but now our group is smaller. And what does Malgreed have planned for us? Stay tuned to find out! and R&R plz!**


	20. Training

**Hey everyone and here's the newest chapter of the Soul Calibur story, this one includes some cool ideas i got from josephuzumaki, my friend who's helping me with this story. Now onto the show!**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Training**

Well, E showed us around the place he lived in; it was rather…big to house one person. E did explain he took some trainees and usually they ended up going to study at some academy in London, hmm…I wonder…Anyway, we were given rooms for us to stay in, either with someone or separate rooms. I had gotten a separate room next to Talim…okay, Talim is sleeping with me, but we got separate beds thankfully.

Joseph got a separate room, Sosuke is bunking with Mina, and Cassandra is separate. Yun Seong is separate as well…pity them…but I was kinda glad to be with Talim.

"So…"I said out of the blue.

"We made it, we finally made it…" Talim smiled. I was taken by surprise when she hugged me, but I hugged back, happy as well that after everything, we finally made it. We both looked at each other, blushing somewhat, then suddenly Talim began leaning closer to me, her eyes closing as well. I was doing the same thing, but my body wasn't acting how my mind wanted it to act.

I could feel her breathe as our lips neared each other, my heart racing inside me, I was so nervous…yet…

"Mark…" Talim whispered as we started closing the gap. Before we could share the kiss, there was a knock on the door, forcing us to become apart and to turn to the door.

"Who is it?" I asked as I let go of Talim. The door opened and Joseph stood there.

"E wanted to speak with us…what are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing," we both replied. Joseph looked at us funny, then shrugged and left, we looked at each other, silently nodding to finish this later, and went with Joseph to Elder E. We found him, along with the others, in the main foyer of the temple. It looked like a large open-area of the temple with shaded walkways around the middle.

"I've called you all here so that we may begin the training, I should warn you, you may die in the attempt," E stated. We gulped but nodded. "Are you all sure? There is still time to back down," E said.

"E, we went halfway around the fucking globe to get here, if you think I'm backing down, forget it, I'm seeing this through to the end," I told him.

"Heh, I like your bravado, let's begin," E said. We spent the next day training with E, each of us learning about the different elements we all had.

* * *

"A normal person has control over one element, but someone with a warrior's spirit can wield two, and in Mark's case, three," E explained. I charged up a lightning bolt and fired it…unfortunately it hit Talim's butt.

"Oh shit…" I said and ran from a pissed off Talim, while E just sighed and shook his head.

* * *

"Joseph, let me see that dagger you have…" E said as he went to Joseph, leaving Mark to his fate. Joseph showed the dagger to E as he ran his hand over the metal, the dagger turning into a blue ball of light and then entered Joseph. He felt a surge of power course into his body and lifted his arm while it faced a pool of water. The water began to rise then went back into the pond with Joseph's hand going down.

"Sweet!" Joseph said as he decided to use the water to moisten the earth and make it into a sinkhole. Unfortunately Cassandra happened to be walking by and got caught in the sinkhole. She got her foot stuck and looked at Joseph.

"Crap…" he said and ran with Cassandra after him. E face palmed, shaking his head with a sigh.

* * *

E then went to Sosuke, who was practicing a lightning attack with his sword as a medium to concentrate the lightning.

"Impressive, I sense you can use another element besides lightning," E said to him.

"Now that you mention it, my left hand has been feeling older than normal," Sosuke said as he looked at his left hand. E poked Sosuke's forehead with two fingers as Sosuke felt a cold snap around him.

"Snap your fingers," E instructed. Sosuke did and a jet of ice appeared, it was the normal colored ice, and unfortunately it had accidently his Seong Mina in the gut.

"Run," E said as Sosuke ran with Mina running after him.

"My god…what is up with these kids?" E wondered aloud.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

A few hours later me, Joseph and Sosuke were in the infirmary as we were being treated for our wounds the girls did to each of us. E explained to them it was an accident after they pummeled us, Talim was the one who healed us with Joseph using his water powers to heal himself and Sosuke…Talim helped him heal too.

Each of the girls was sorry for what they did and regretted hurting us individually.

"Next time, don't jump to conclusions, I've seen it happen one too many times and it ends with the guy getting beat up by a bunch of girls and his reputation going down the toilet…" I stated. They looked at me in a confused way, "What? It happens…" I stated. Talim and the girls smiled, and then kissed us respectively (Talim for me, Cassandra for Joseph, and Mina for Sosuke).

Each of us blushed from the kiss they gave us, but now we were fired up for more training. The three of us rushed out of bed, changed and ran out the door to continue training.

"Guess the kisses worked even better than we thought," Cassandra giggled.

"Heh, they're so cute…" Mina smiled.

"Yeah…" Talim smiled softly

I panted as I snapped my fingers on the rock, leaving scorch marks on its face. I need to get stronger! I panted some more and charged some lightning into my palm, yeah, like the Chidori, and I charged and stabbed the rock face, causing a large crater in it.

"Haah…not good enough…" I said and prepared another one. I never even noticed Talim secretly watching everything from behind a tree.

* * *

Meanwhile, Thanatos walked down a cavern and came across a large wall; he put his hand on the wall and is opened like a door opening. He soon saw the large valley and the temple, not to mention the large explosions in the distance.

"Well…time to make my move then…" Thanatos said as he went to the temple.

* * *

**Uh oh wonder what Thanatos's move is? Stay tuned to find out!**


	21. Dark Premonitions

**Well, here's the new chapter i wrote for you all, and this one includes a new character joining the story (per request from josephuzumaki). Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Dark Premonitions**

Elder E was busy watching Joseph and Sosuke train and wondered where Mark was and remembered Talim was gone as well, but sensed someone approaching. He turned around and soon saw Thanatos, sensing the dark aura he gave off.

"I take it you're Thanatos?" E asked him.

"You're sure quick to realize, yeah I'm Thanatos, and I'm here for somebody," Thanatos said as he drew his sword. E held his staff as the wood suddenly disappeared, revealing a sword underneath it.

"You will not harm any of my students!" E yelled and charged at him. Thanatos blocked the attack and ran off with E hot on his trail. Sosuke, Joseph and the others ran to help but another portal appeared and a man with white hair and had glasses on and had on a gold trimmed purple cloak, black pants and a black shirt. He carried a large scythe on his back.

"Who…are you?" Joseph asked him.

"The one you're looking for…" Malgreed said as he grabbed Joseph and disappeared with him.

"Joseph!" Sosuke yelled.

* * *

Malgreed and Joseph were soon in a dark forest somewhere as Joseph looked at Malgreed.

"W-What do you want with me?" he asked him.

"I need a new subordinate, and you're gonna help create him…" Malgreed said. He then kicked Joseph and he rolled over on his back, Malgreed then prepared to use his right arm as it began to glow an eerie red color and jabbed Joseph with the arm. Joseph gasped as his eyes rolled back into his head. Malgreed then pulled out a glowing black orb from Joseph's body.

The orb soon floated upward and soon began to form into a human. Malgreed grinned as he saw the humanoid figure land on his feet. It was covered in a sort of black spiked armor, with shoulder guards and spikes leggings and torso, all in black. The only think that stuck out was the pale white skin, red eyes and black hair that was stubby.

"Hmm…what should I call you?" Malgreed wondered. "…hmm…Anubis?" Malgreed wondered.

The boy looked up when Malgreed said that name and Malgreed grinned, "Anubis…seems fitting…" Malgreed said.

"Thank you….Master Malgreed…" Anubis said and bowed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elder E and Thanatos were fighting in the cave leading to the temple, Thanatos panted from fighting the old hermit, while E panted lightly, having not fought this hard before.

_'Man, this dude has to be, like very old, and he still kicks ass, guess Ran was right about him,'_ Thanatos thought...

* * *

Ranvitchkus sneezed a bit, "Is someone talking about me? And I think he called me Ran…it's Ranvitchkus!" he yelled.

* * *

Thanatos and Elder E attacked each other again, Thanatos fired a lightning bolt at E, but he just held his hand as the lightning assembled in his hand and pointed his fingers like a gun and fired, hitting Thanatos dead on, causing his helmet to fall off.

E froze with shock when he saw Thanatos's true face **(ain't showing it to you yet!). **"No…you're…is that what Malgreed is planning?" E asked Thanatos as he got up.

"Yep, and he's probably done by now with our target, laters!" Thanatos said as he picked up his helmet and put it on his head and went through a portal. E quickly ran back to the temple as Malgreed threw Joseph onto the ground as he and Anubis both left. When he saw Mark and Talim running towards them, Malgreed smirked as the portal closed.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I heard the commotion from the temple and decided to stop my training, now realizing Talim was watching, but I ignored that fact and ran as fast as I could to the temple. When I got there I saw two white haired men, one with a cape and scythe and another that looked like Joseph. The man with the cape glanced at me as he entered a portal and smirked.

I suddenly held my head form a sudden headache as memories flashed through my mind:

_I saw myself creating a new character in Soul Calibur 4 at my house, then to the same place as before from my dream, but now it looked like I was on top of a tower and I saw the same man with the scythe and Algol before me…_

* * *

I suddenly woke up to find myself in my room at the temple with the others watching over me.

"Hey about time you came too," Yun seong said.

"what happened?" I asked as I sat up, holding my head as it throbbed.

"You blacked out when that guy came back here; he said he's got another addition to his team and that we won't stop his plans, the other boy you saw was Anubis or something like that," Mina said.

"Looks like that man took Joseph's darkness and turned it into his newest henchmen," E said as he came in.

"Wait, so that white haired guy next to him…that was Joseph's darker half?" I asked.

"Ys, Joseph is fine by the way," E stated. I sighed a bit with relief at least he was okay.

"Where were you anyway Mark?" Cassandra asked me.

"Uh….I was…busy with something important…" I told her.

"Yeah, I went with him to help out a bit," Talim added. The others looked at us, but didn't bother asking further. With a nod to Talim as a thank you, I had a feeling I had to owe her one later. But now things were taking a bad turn…but that man…Malgreed…how come I keep feeling like I've met him before?

* * *

Meanwhile, Anubis and Malgreed stepped out of the portal as Thanatos was busy doing something with his face and some water in a bucket.

"…uh…what's he doing?" Malgreed asked.

"E…" Ranvitchkus stated.

"Right…" Malgreed said and turned to Anubis. "Welcome to your new home Anubis, go and meet your new compatriots," he said to him.

Anubis nodded and went to Ranvitchkus, "Hey…" he said.

"Hey…new guy huh? Well might as well show you around, since I became the apparent babysitter for the newbies…" Ranvitchkus said as he showed Anubis around, with Thanatos drying off his face.

* * *

**So it looks like Malgreed created a new guy from Joseph's darkness, but what will he be used for? And what is Malgreed's true agenda? Stay tuned to find out**


	22. Ambushed

**Wow, this is a surprisingly short chapter, yet its probably still good. Anyway, enjoy it!**

* * *

**Chapter 21: Ambushed**

_Meanwhile…_

Zach, Kilik and Xianghua were walking from the town they stayed in. It was a day after they left Five Elements Mountain and now they wondered one thing: what now?

"Maybe we should've stayed t the temple with the others…" Xianghua said.

"Maybe…still, we do have to find out where Soul Edge is," Zach said.

"Still…maybe we should go back…" Kilik said. A rustle in the bushes stopped their conversation as they got ready for a fight. What came out of the bushes surprised them, it was Ivy, but she didn't look like she wanted to fight them.

"You? What are you doing here?" Xianghua asked her.

"Is Mark here?" Ivy asked. The three looked at her, and Zach shook his head.

"Nah, he's inside the mountain now…" Zach said.

"Oh…I…wanted to apologize to him…after the fight and all," Ivy said, surprising them.

"Really?" they asked her.

"Yes…so…I'll be going then..." Ivy said and walked past them.

"Wait!" Zach stopped her, "Why…don't you come with us?" he asked. The other two looked at Zach like he was an idiot.

"Are you insane? After she nearly killed your friend?" Kilik asked.

"I wasn't ordered to…that old man asked me to fight him as a test, the girl was unexpected but he said it was for the test…" Ivy said to him.

They looked at Ivy and Kilik sighed, "Fine…so, you want us to take you back to the mountain?" Kilik asked.

"Yes…" Ivy said.

"Alright…but one wrong move and it's over…" Xianghua said threateningly.

"Right…" Ivy said. The group of four now made their way back to the temple in the mountain. The next day they were on the trail on the mountain, but then something had happened.

They were ambushed.

It was unexpected but once they reached the mouth of the cave, a portal opened and Ranvitchkus came out.

"Hey…" he said casually.

"You!" Both Kilik and Zach said as they and the girls got ready.

Ranvitchkus pulled out his sword and charged at them. The group of four soon were fighting against Ranvitchkus, in a few minutes Ranvitchkus incapacitated Kilik ad injured Xianghua, but not too badly. Zach was somewhat injured and Ivy managed to hold her own a bit against Ranvitchkus.

"Ivy, hold you holding up?" Zach asked.

"Fine darling, you?" she asked him.

"Good…this guy's good, think that whip-sword of yours can beat that monster of a sword he's got?" Zach asked with a smirk.

"Valentine can handle anything, even that hunk of sharp metal Ran has," Ivy said.

"It's Ranvitchkus!" he yelled.

"Like we care!" The two both said. The two charged at Ranvitchkus, Ivy slashing Valentine at Ranvitchkus with Zach attacking with his staff. Ranvitchkus was now trying to fight the two evenly, and then decided to cheat. He got a slash from Ivy, which left a large scar across his cheek, and punched Ivy hard into the wall.

"Ivy! You bastard!" Zach yelled and charged at Ranvitchkus. Ranvitchkus blocked the attack and tried to slash at Zach, but Zach parried with his staff and smacked Ranvitchkus hard in the face with it. Ranvitchkus replied by punching Zach hard in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground, trying his hardest to breathe.

"Heh, game over pal," Ranvitchkus said as he prepared to kill Zach. Suddenly a whip-sword tangled itself in Ranvitchkus's arms as Ivy pulled on Valentine, trying to stop him. Xianghua and Kilik then proceeded to attack and both pushed Ranvitchkus off the cliff, sending him plummeting to the ground. Ivy went to Zach, helping him up as Mark and the others rushed out to see what happened.

"What happened?" Mark asked.

"We'll explain later, right now we need to get Zach some medical attention!" Ivy said. Mark nodded and help Joseph get Zach inside while the others went with him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ranvitchkus appeared from a portal, shaking off snow and wiping blood off him.

"Well, look who's returned," Thanatos said as he watched Ranvitchkus walk from the portal.

"Shut it, or I'll have that helmet of yours as a trophy," Ranvitchkus snarled.

"Hey no need to be so pushy…" Thanatos muttered.

"Where's Malgreed?" Ranvitchkus asked.

"Training that Anubis guy…and word is that Nightmare is coming here soon," Thanatos said.

"Well that seems to work for us…" Ranvitchkus said as he lounged on the couch.

"Yep, once I get Soul Edge, we'll need the kid to get Soul Calibur….then our prize will be in our grasp," Thanatos said.

* * *

**Oh no! Zach is injured badly and in need of medical attention, and with Nightmare heading to Ostriensburg, is the vision that Malgreed and co. going to come true? Stay tuned folks!**


	23. Conflicts and Secret Moves

**Well, this chapter is kinda important, i was bored so i wrote this out of boredom, and its longer too! Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Conflicts and a Secret Move**

_Mark's POV_

I watched as Elder E tended to Zach's wounds, how could I have let this happen? If we had come sooner then he would've been…

"Is he going to be alright?" Xianghua asked E. E wiped his forehead and nodded.

"He will now, had you not been fighting there he would be dead by now," E said. I sighed a bit with relief as did the others, but I still felt guilty for what Ranvitchkus did to Zach…well pissed off more like it. I left the others to Zach, Talim noticed me but E stopped her.

"He need some time alone…" E said.

I smashed my fist against the cave wall in anger, how could I let this happen? Why are they after us? Why my friends? They're after me right, are they doing this to spite me? I launched a lightning bolt to the sky in anger.

"Damn it…why them, they're after me aren't they?" I said aloud as I shot another bolt. I then thought about what happened to Talim with Conner and my heart twisted into a knot…that and my stomach.

"No! I….I won't let that happen to her…not her…" I said and shot some more bolts into the sky. That's when I heard the lightning crack and saw a storm above me and it was raining. I kept thinking of Thanatos, Ranvitchkus and that Anubis guy and Malgreed and shot another bolt at the storm.

The lightning is shot into the sky caused a bolt to fly at me. Oh shit…think…think…think! Got it! I charged up some lightning in my hand and caught the bolt in the lightning. I felt the immense pressure from the bolt but I held my arm trying to hold it up, my skin on my arm starting to burn because of it.

I sent a charge into the sky and held my arm straight up, remembering that fight between Itachi and Sasuke from "Naruto Shippudden" where Sasuke did the _Kirin_ move on Itachi and decided to do the same to the mountain in the distance.

* * *

E sensed an immense power in the air, as did the others, and ran outside to see a large Kirin made of lightning in the sky.

"Holy shit…" Joseph said.

"When did that get there?" Kilik asked.

"Mark…" Joseph said as he and the others ran to the entrance to the valley.

**(Yes, the temple and the landscape is in a valley between some mountains)**

The gang soon saw Mark throw his arm down as the Kirin shot towards the ground, when it impacted it sent a large shockwave then nearly threw everybody off balance. When the smoke cleared they saw a large crater on the side of a mountain in the distance and Mark was passed out on the ground, his right arm smoking.

Talim went to help up Mark while E just started at the crater the attack made.

'Amazing…to think he has this much power…' E thought as he looked at Mark while the others were trying to get him inside.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I groaned as I woke up, I tried to move my arm but saw it was bandaged up and it stung pretty badly too.

"Ooh…what happened?" I asked groggily.

"Glad to see you're awake…" E said as he brought some rice balls and some tea with him.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I was going to ask you the same thing…" E said to me with a serious look. I sighed and told him what happened. E seemed surprised…well it was hard to tell, he kept his emotions pretty close to the vest.

"I see…I am amazed you could use a move like that, though you should be careful, it took me and Talim and Joseph to heal your arm," E said. I looked at my bandaged right arm and felt a pang of guilt in my heart.

"Was…Talim worried?" I asked him.

"She's over there," E pointed to Talim, who was sleeping soundly on a chair. I smiled but now felt guiltier than ever.

"She was worried about you after what happened…but she knew you'd be alright," E told me.

I smiled a bit and looked at Talim sleeping soundly, and then my bandaged arm was starting to itch so I got rid of the bandages, only to discover some of my scarred arm was back to normal, and some scars were healing quickly before my eyes.

"E…is this supposed to happen?" I asked Elder E as he looked at my hand.

"Hmm…perhaps your wind affinity is causing this?" E inquired. I shrugged and got up, then saw I had no shirt on, and then noticed I was getting some muscle going on. I went to Talim, shaking her shoulder a bit to wake her up, when that didn't work, I jabbed my middle finger on her forehead.

Talim started opening her eyes and yawned in a cute way, then she looked at me and all sleepness vanished from her eyes as she hugged me.

"Heh, glad to see you to-" a slap across my face stopped my sentence.

"You idiot! What were you thinking using your powers in a storm like that, you could've died!" Talim yelled.

"Sorry, I just had to let out some steam," I told her, trying to calm her down a bit. Talim looked at me, red faced and looked like she was either gonna cry, beat me, or both.

"I-I'm sorry, r -really! I didn't mean to do something that stupid, I swear!" I said quickly to calm her down and for her not to cry. Plus I wouldn't forgive myself if she cried and my reputation would go down the toilet if anyone found out.

Talim then started giggling a bit, and then laughing, maybe from my attempt at an apology? I guess from the apology. Then I started to laugh too, the moment seemed rather cute to E…until a crack and my right arm going limp ruined it.

"D-Did that just happen?" Talim asked with shock as we looked at my limp appendage.

"Oh come on God! Seriously?" I yelled to the ceiling. The door opened and everyone ran inside, wondering what happened to cause all the shouting. I explained what happened as E tried to snap my arm back into place.

"Well, glad to see you're fine, I was afraid I had lost a good sparring partner," Sosuke smirked.

"You got Joseph!" I said to him as E was lifting my arm up a bit. "Ow! God damn it E…" I cursed.

"You should respect your elders more boy!" E said to me sternly.

"Respect this old man!" I said and flashed him the finger, causing my friends to laugh. E snapped my finger back and for a few seconds we were silent…then I yelled in pain then E snapped my finger back after I apologized.

"Frankie…" Frankie stood up, now afraid of what E would do to him.

"Yes sir?" he asked.

"Tell me: have you been training lately?" E asked Frankie.

"Uh…kinda…" Frankie said.

"Come with me then," E said as he and Frankie left us alone.

"Well, this outta be good…" I said as I rubbed my arm. The others agreed and we began to talk about some random stuff.

* * *

**Well now that my arm is fixed, stay tuned to see what'll happen next. and R&R plz!**


	24. Regorious Training

**Sorry for the short chappie people, i couldn't think of anything and this was an idea my friend gave me and yeah...Anyway, enjoy!****

* * *

**

**Chapter 23: Rigorous Training**

Once I fully recovered and Zach did too, we all began to train a lot harder than before. I was busy trying out some new flame techniques and Joseph was testing out a new earth technique he was doing while E was training with Frankie.

"I think it's time to see if the training has paid off," E said as he and Frankie came in.

"Like what?" I asked him.

"You, Joseph and Sosuke will fight Frankie," E said. We looked at him, then Frankie, then E again.

"Huh?" we asked.

"You heard me, we'll see if you're able to defeat Frankie after the training I gave him," E said. We sighed and agreed and we soon faced Frankie in the main courtyard.

"Ready?" I asked him. Frankie twirled his staff a few times around him and pointed it at us, smirking.

"Yep," he said.

'_Tch, show-off…'_ I thought and we charged at him.

**15 seconds later…**

What the hell did E teach him? I can't get a freaking hit on Frankie, and neither did the others. Frankie just smiled as we tried to get near him, but Frankie just went a blast of magic and sent us back each time.

"Man…Raikyuu!" Joseph yelled as he gathered a ball of lightning in his hand and shot it at Frankie. Frankie got hit with the ball of lightning, but got up, shook it off and launched some fireballs at us.

"Man, I hate it when E holds out on us," I muttered. I channeled some fire into my palm and shot it at Frankie, "Flame Lance!" I yelled and shot the lance at Frankie. Frankie concentrated and dodged it, then sent an ice blast at us.

"How many elements does this kid know?" I yelled.

"Don't ask, just attack!" Sosuke said and shot some lightning bolts at him. Joseph and I did the same with him and all of our lightning attacks combined into one, Frankie summoned a fire shield and an explosion occurred with smoke covering the area. Frankie coughed as he tried to see through the smoke. I soon jumped out from the smoke and slashed at him, Frankie managed to dodge that attack but barely.

Suddenly the ground below us started to weaken and we both got stuck in it.

"Joseph!" I hollered. The latter soon appeared and managed to get the staff out of Frankie's hands with one swing, and nearly hit me in the face doing so.

"Whoa! Next time a little warning before you do that okay?" I told Joseph.

"Well next time don't get caught in my trap," Joseph said. As much as I wanted to punch him hard in the face, we turned to Frankie and shoved our swords in the round between his head and the staff he was trying to reach.

We turned to E, who was clapping with some amazement, "Interesting, I trained Frankie myself on how to use those moves and he managed to hold you off…thought some self defense would be good too, nevertheless, you've proven yourselves capable of holding your own for now," E said to us.

"Thank you" we all said.

"Now, I think you should go to Ostrheinsburg to face Malgreed now," E said.

"Yeah, time for some payback," I said and punched my fist into my palm.

* * *

Later, I lay on the bed in my room, thinking about tomorrow, I was nervous.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Talim asked as she came in.

"Tomorrow we're heading to Ostrheinsburg to beat Malgreed…I'm a little nervous actually," I told her.

"Don't worry; you got us with you…" Talim said as she let me rest my head on her lap to look at me.

"Yeah…plus that training with using the Wind element is improving," I told her.

"Mine as well, maybe you and I can have a little sparing match sometime?" Talim asked me.

"Sure, if you can beat me that is," I smirked.

"It's a date," Talim smiled and pecked my forehead. I smiled, blushing a bit too, and took a plate of…I looked and saw it was some pork barbeque, and it smelled good.

"Hmm, I never thought you would eat pig," I said to Talim as I took a bite of the pork.

"It's a custom in my country that we eat pig…or at least due to the Spaniards come into our homes…at least you're nice for a Spaniard…" Talim said. I smirked a bit and ate some more pork…okay I was hungry, plus this pork tasted really good. After eating a few pieces I was full and decided to hit the hay, a bit nervous still, but now I was slightly reassured thanks to Talim's words.

_I saw a large tower in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by lava and cooled lava in large islands and spires around the bottom of the tower. Then saw a large man with two glowing hands and white hair sitting on a throne, as if bored. Suddenly light covered the man's face as he grinned as a boy started waking up in front of him._

_It was me…_

**Well, now we're given the go-ahead to take down Malgreed, but what about that dream? Is it of events yet to come? Or did it happen already? Stay tuned to find out**


	25. Things get Serious

**well, here's chapter 24, and like the title says, thing start getting serious after this point, it's gonna be awesome!**

* * *

**Chapter 24: Things get serious**

Alright, after E gave us the go-ahead our group left the Temple to the Dark Capital Ostrheinsburg, where Thanatos and the others awaited. Everyone was anxious as I was to get to the castle, plus this would work out for us, maybe we can see what Malgreed is planning and try to stop him there. Still, something kept bugging me, which was that dream I had last night…what the heck was that all about?

We soon saw the dark city and we all felt an evil aura surrounding it, man…did it get cold here or what?

"You guys feel that?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah, did it get colder here or what?" Zach asked.

"No…I…I sense a powerful evil force here…" Talim said as she shook. There was a loud thunder clap and we saw…a whole shitload of black birds flying from the roofs of the buildings.

"That's a lot of black birds…" Frankie said as we watched the birds fly off. I then looked and saw a silhouette of someone on one of the roofs before it disappeared.

"And I think I know what freaked them out…" I finished. We headed deeper into the city, now shivering from the evil feeling that's hanging in the air. "I got a bad feeling about this…" I muttered to myself as we made our way to the castle.

* * *

Thanatos watched Mark and his friends look at the black birds and he jumped down from the roof he was on. Finally the pawns were in place, and now the fun would truly begin. He opened a portal and went in it and soon fond Malgreed and the others once he stepped out.

"Mark and his friends are on the way," Thanatos said.

"Good, Ranvitchkus, you take on Frankie and Zach, Anubis will takes Joseph, and the rest of you will take your respective person," Malgreed told everyone. They nodded and headed out, leaving only him and Thanatos left.

"Can I end this charade here?" Thanatos asked.

"Yes…it's time they knew what they were messing with," Malgreed grinned.

Thanatos chuckled and sat on the throne, waiting for his opponent to come.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

We reached the bridge that lead to the castle, now I was nervous about the place, and the others were the same.

"Well…here we are…" I said.

"Yep…who wants to go in first?" Zach asked. We all pushed Zach in front of us as he grumbled and opened the door.

A minute passed and he poked his head out, "There's no one here," he said.

I cocked an eyebrow and went to the door, going into it, Zach was right, there was no one there. I heard the door shut close and turned around.

"Ah come on!" I yelled and tried to open the door. A fruitless few minutes later I gave up and walked deeper into the castle.

* * *

"Push!" Joseph yelled as he and the others tried to get to door open, but to no avail.

"Damn it! This sucks!" Frankie yelled.

"We gotta get in there!" Joseph said and banged his fist on the door. Suddenly a small portal appeared under Joseph's feet and he fell in, the same with Zach and Frankie and Sosuke.

"What the heck?" Mina asked aloud. Suddenly the villains who were with Malgreed appeared and they were teleported to the foyer with everyone.

"You!" Almost everyone yelled as they drew their weapons.

"So we meet again daughter, why are you following them?" Cervantes asked Ivy.

"Don't get me wrong, I want to destroy Soul edge and I'd gladly betray them, but I also will do anything to get rid of you," Ivy said as she charged at her "father", swinging Valentine at him.

* * *

Cassandra looked at Tira as the girl just grinned.

"Where's my sister?" Cassandra asked her.

"Oh her? Well I don't know but she'd probably be a new vessel for Soul Edge once Nightmare gets here," Tira said cheerfully before she frowned.** "And that's bad news for you…"** she said seriously and swung her weapon at Cassandra. She dodged it and charged at Tira, now pissed off, and sliced at her with her sword. Tira blocked it and saw another sword appear and blocked that too.

Cassandra looked and saw it was her sister, Sophitia.

"Sis! What are you doing here?" she asked her sister.

"For Soul Edge, but I couldn't let my own sister get hurt because of me," Sophitia said.

"So…Whaddya say we teach this girl a lesson?" Cassandra said.

"I thought you'd never ask," Sophitia said and charged at Tira with Cassandra.

* * *

Joseph soon fell out of a wall and onto a floor, and then saw he was in a hallway with some paintings and stuff on the walls. He looked around for anybody but saw no one…until Anubis appeared from the wall.

"You!" Joseph said as he summoned Brionac.

"Heh, I thought you'd do that," Anubis said.

"What's Malgreed planning?" Joseph asked.

"Won't tell you…but it involves one of your friends," Anubis told him.

"Let me guess: Mark?" Joseph asked.

"Yeah…and I really feel bad for what's about to befall him, believe me," Anubis said. Joseph cocked an eyebrow and looked at Anubis.

"Wait, what's gonna happen to him?" Joseph asked.

"All I can say is that Malgreed plan is gonna involve pushing Mark to his limits for something…that's all, he didn't tell em besides from that," Anubis shrugged.

"Hmm…no, can't get distracted…" Joseph mumbled.

"That's…" Anubis suddenly reappeared behind Joseph; "Is the correct answer…" he finished and prepared to stab Joseph. Joseph managed to summon an earth wall to stop the stab, when he turned to attack Anubis, he was gone.

"Where'd he-" Joseph got hit from the back before he could finish and skidded on the floor. Joseph tried to find where Anubis was hiding but all he saw was the hallway, then he saw Anubis stepping out of the shadows again. Joseph sent an earth wave at him, but Anubis dodged and went into the shadows again.

"God damn it! Hold still!" Joseph yelled as he ran at another portal as Anubis got out of it and prepared to attack.

* * *

Zach and Frankie landed hard on the ground, a little confused and disorientated at first, but managed to get up.

"What happened?" Frankie asked as he shook his head.

"Ranvitchkus happened," Zach said as the latter stood in front of them.

"Glad to see you're doing well…" Ranvitchkus said with a smirk as the two got up and prepared to fight him.

"No thanks to you, but now I can pay back from before!" Zach yelled and charged at Ranvitchkus with Frankie muttering a spell.

* * *

Sosuke walked through the hallways, sensing the dark powers that were emanating inside the place. He found the source of the darkness and opened it. He looked and saw that it was Malgreed before him; Sosuke felt rage burning inside him as his mind flashed to that day. His entire village was wiped out, his friends and family dead, and he blamed Malgreed for it.

Sosuke had been alone until he found Nightmare, but rather than kill him, Nightmare decided to let him accompany him, acquiring the pale skin tone from being so close to Soul Edge. He left Nightmare a while back and worked on the excavation where he met Joseph.

Sosuke looked at Malgreed and readied his sword to attack.

"It's been a while…I wanted to see your face…" Malgreed said.

"Malgreed…it's time I finished what I started years ago…you're mine!" Sosuke said as he charged at Malgreed, who readied his scythe to defend.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I walked through the hallways now, sensing spikes in power around me. Guess my friends are fighting now…huh, what's that? I walked out of a hallway and discovered a large throne room with a huge chasm behind me. I saw the statues of a bunch of knights in front of the throne's steps in a line and saw Thanatos sitting on the throne.

I walked towards the knights as they stood aside, letting me pass.

"I've been waiting a long time for this Thanatos…" I told him.

"I know…me too…" Thanatos said as he got up from his throne.

"You've brought nothing but pain to my friends; it's time you were finished…" I told him.

"Heh…we'll see about that," Thanatos said and charged at me.

* * *

**Yep, thos is one hell of a cliffhanger, stay tuned to see what happens next!**


	26. Conflicting Souls part 1

**Okay, after some procrastinating and a few days of playing Fallout 3: GOTY edition, i got this chapter done! this is where everythign will start to make sense, anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 25: Conflicting Souls part 1**

Talim, Seong Mi-na and Yun Seong were busy trying to take down Astaroth together outside the castle, but the titan wouldn't go down that easily.

"Man, we need a new plan; most of our attacks won't work on him," Yun seong said as Astaroth lifted his axe.

"Tch is that the best you worms got?" he asked them. Before he could slam his axe on them, he got a good kick in the face and stumbled. The three looked at who saved them and saw it was a man wearing a white open jacket with no shirt underneath, white pants and had nun-chucks with him with Elvis Presley styled hair.

"Maxi! Man good to see you," Yun seong said.

"Heh, glad I made it, when I heard this guy was spotted here I came as fast as I could, though I never thought you'd be here," Maxi said.

"Neither did any of us," the three replied. Astaroth then began to get up and the four all charged at him, with Maxi's help, it was easy to defeat him. When Astaroth was disoriented, Maxi went up to him and poked him with his finger, causing him to fall into the river.

"I always wanted to do that…" Maxi grinned.

"I bet, now come on, the others need our help," Mina said. There was the sound of broken glass and the four saw Cervantes flying out.

"Well most of us…" Yun Seong muttered. The group headed inside and regrouped with Ivy, Kilik and Xianghua and ran inside the castle to save their friends.

* * *

Zach and Frankie were in a heated duel with Ranvitchkus; Zach was handling him in close range while Frankie shot some spells at Ranvitchkus. The latter was having a hard time dealing with the two, with Frankie's spells and Zach's attacks.

'_Man, these two are stronger…but I wounded Zach to near death how did he…that old man…he must've saved him…'_ Ranvitchkus thought. He dodged a blast from Frankie, but got his sword knocked off by Zach and got shot by Frankie's magic blasts. He landed on a wall, badly hurt now and even bleeding a bit from the attacks. Heck, he was even coughing up blood when Zach and Frankie got to him

"Damn, you improved…a whole lot from last time…though that blow I gave you would work…guess that old man's tougher than I thought…" Ranvitchkus said.

"Tell us what's going on…about Thanatos and Malgreed," Frankie said.

"Tch, them? All I know is that Malgreed wants power…and Thanatos is the key, once we get Soul Edge we'll be one step closer to our goal," Ranvitchkus said.

"What goal?" Zach asked.

"A New World…Malgreed told us about what will happen in our future and we shall change it, once we obtain the Ultimate Sword, our dreams of a new world shall come true…heh, you're doomed…and idiots to think…that you can stop us…" Ranvitchkus coughed more blood as the color drained from his face. Zach and Frankie looked at Ranvitchkus's now dead body with neutral looks and heard the sounds of more fighting.

"Seems like we're not the only ones fighting…" Zach said as he and Frankie ran into the castle's halls.

* * *

Sosuke skidded and coughed up some spit with blood mixed into it as he looked at Malgreed with his scythe in his hands.

"Had enough?" Malgreed asked Sosuke as he got up.

"Not on your life!" he yelled and ran towards him. Malgreed just stepped to the side and slashed Sosuke, leaving a scar on his side. Sosuke panted for breath and looked at Malgreed, who just stood there with a bored expression. He then lifted his head, "Huh, it appears that our friends and Ranvitchkus are gone…" he said.

"Guess our game's over…" Malgreed then grinned and looked at Sosuke.

"Game?" Sosuke asked him.

"Yes, I was only playing with you and your friends with all the villains here, and right now Thanatos and Mark's fight is starting to heat up…can't you feel it?" Malgreed asked him. Sosuke tried to feel the battle and felt an intense power that caused him to feel sick to the point where he threw up.

"W-what the hell was that? It was…was that who I thought it was?" Sosuke wondered aloud.

"Yes, two souls fighting each other," Malgreed said. He heard someone coming and disappeared just as Zach, Frankie and the others (minus Joseph and Mark) came in and helped Sosuke up.

"Heh, your little friends came to save you…pathetic…" Malgreed said. He then looked up and sensed something.

"Hmm…this is going to be interesting…" he said with a grin and disappeared.

* * *

Joseph dodged and countered Anubis's attacks from the shadows, but he was now trying to counter them when he had no idea where he would come from and suffered a few bad scars and bruises from Anubis.

"Had enough?" Anubis asked him.

"Not really…" Joseph said and punched the ground and sent some earth bullets at Anubis. He dodged them and appeared behind him to finish Joseph off. Joseph saw this and twirled, managing to dodge the slash and cutting Anubis…hard. Anubis had tried to turn into a shadow to block it, but someone he was caught in mid transformation and got the scar.

Anubis turned to shadow again and resumed his attack from all directions, but Joseph managed to dodge most of them.

'_Man, he can turn into shadow whenever he wants…like Crocodile from One Piece mixed with Pride from Full Metal Alchemist'_ Joseph thought. _'Wait…I wonder…'_ Joseph realized and started to charge up some lightning. Anubis looked with some confusion as Joseph shot a bolt at him. Anubis dodged it, but noticed it soon let out a large burst of light, causing his shadowy body to become solid and the shadow portals he used to disappear.

Anubis didn't have time to counter, being disoriented from the light, and was stabbed by Joseph.

"I had a feeling, since you used the powers of shadow like Pride from _Full Metal Alchemist_ with a mix of Crocodile from _One Piece_ I thought of using my lightning to make a sort of a flash bang grenade to stop you from using your shadow powers," Joseph explained.

"Not bad…you're getting better…but still…if you want to defeat Thanatos and Malgreed, you'll need to do better…" Anubis said.

"Who is Thanatos anyway?" Joseph asked.

"Someone who will help bring about a new world…" Anubis said as Joseph pulled out his sword, causing him to cough violently.

"You…can't stop us…we will have our new World…heh….hahaha…" Anubis laughed as he died. Joseph then saw Anubis's body glowing brighter and brighter until he was a ball of light. The ball flew around until it hit Joseph and went into him. He felt a strange sensation in him when the ball entered, like regaining something he lost.

He looked at Brionac and saw that it changed; it was sleeker looking with some glowing edges with a green color on them. "Wow…" was all Joseph could say before he heard someone coming.

"Who's there?" He asked and readied to fight. He soon saw it was the others and lowered Brionac in time to be glomped by Cassandra.

"Uh Cassandra…" Talim began.

"Joseph I was so worried, you okay?" Cassandra asked him.

"Fine…need air now…" Joseph croaked. Cassandra let him go and got up, as did Joseph.

"So Anubis flew the coop?" Zach asked.

"Yep, and got a new upgrade," Joseph said as he showed Brionac.

"But where's Mark?" Talim asked. That's when they all face-palmed and remembered why they were here.

"Back with Malgreed I sensed something powerful, I might've been them," Sosuke said.

"Then use that feeling and find him!" Joseph stated.

"Alright, alright, sheesh…" Sosuke groaned and ran forward with the others following.

* * *

**And so now the next chapter of the story shall make everything clear. What are Mark and Thanatos up to? and what is the New World that Anubis and Ranvitchkus said before their deaths? stay tuned to learn much more! R&R plz!**


	27. Conflicting Souls part 2

**Ok, after a hard day from school (starting 12th grade) i managed to finish this chapter! And this one's a dozy, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Conflicting Souls Part 2**

_Mark's POV_

I charged at Thanatos and swung my sword at him; he effortlessly blocked with his own sword and kicked me back behind the knights. Thanatos jumped over them and charged at me, I blocked his sword attack and we both glared at each other…well it was hard to tell if Thanatos was glaring with that helmet on.

I felt Thanatos kick me and hit the wall, then saw he tried to stab me and I dodged it in time to slice at him. He managed to back off and we resumed this cycle of attacks at each other for a few minutes. We skidded away from each other and panted heavily, me more than him, stupid asthma…thought I got past this…I felt something brush past my cheek and saw it was a lightning bolt Thanatos launched at me.

I ducked as he launched some more and a fire blast at me, this dude was not playing around anymore, he's dead serious! I decided to do the same and fired some lightning bolts at Thanatos, and threw in some fire bolts for good measure. Soon the room was covered in charred scorch marks and smelled like burnt…well…burnt stuff. Not to mention the knights were either in pieces or melted on the ground.

I panted as part of my jacket was burnt off as well as the armor underneath it was really starting to hurt, and made it hard to breathe too.

"Had enough?" Thanatos asked as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"Not…even close!" I yelled and threw my jacket in front of me. Thanatos sliced it but I wasn't there,

"Where'd he go?" he wondered aloud.

Big mistake for him…I appeared behind him and charged while he wasn't looking, he did turn his head slightly as I prepared to snap my fingers to send him flying with a fire bolt. I saw his right arm glowing black as he was going to do the same.

It felt like we were in slow motion, both of us preparing to attack and our arms prepared to snap our fingers to release hell. We both snapped our fingers at the same time as two jets of flames appeared and collided before a huge explosion occurred, blinding me…

Joseph and the others were following Sosuke as they neared where Mark and T

* * *

hanatos were fighting when all of a sudden a huge explosion occurred and the whole place shook.

"What the hell?" Joseph yelled as they ran to the throne room to find it in ruins and the windows shattered. Joseph made a floor where the chasm was and looked out the door int time to see Mark and Thanatos fight on a raft.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I felt myself being launched from the room and felt glass breaking on my back as I was flung out in the blast, then I was rolling over some steep hill and fell into the lake around the castle. I swam up for air and gasped, then headed to the raft I saw floating by. I laid on it, hurt from the blast and panting from what just occurred. I looked over as Thanatos began to climb up, some of his helmet cracked but not entirely broken, and his armor was in bits and pieces in some areas.

"Tch, you look horrible…" I grinned.

"Same to you jack ass…" Thanatos said as he got up. I did the same and we soon faced each other again, and then started to circle each other around the edge of the raft until we charged again.

"You caused us nothing but suffering, you must be destroyed for what you did!" I said as I slashed at him furiously.

"Me? What about you? Ever since you came here all you did was endanger more people's lives!" Thanatos retorted as he blocked and sliced at me, leaving some scars on my chest and arms.

"Ever since you showed up you've caused us nothing but grief, do you know what I've been through because of you" I asked him.

"Oh I know, I know more than you could ever know…" Thanatos said coldly.

"How?" I asked him as we looked each other face to mask.

"You should be starting to remember by now…the Lost Tower of Souls…Algol, everything, by now you'd realize who I am, who WE are, and why I'm here," Thanatos said.

Now I was seriously pissed and slashed Thanatos, managing to get his sword stuck and punching his helmet. "WHO ARE YOU?" I yelled at him. Thanatos skied back as he held his mask, now the bits and pieces breaking apart. I heard a soft chuckle from him, his head hanging low as he got up, more helmet pieces coming off.

Thanatos soon laughed as his helmet started to come off, at first it was the same eye I saw before, but as the mask came off more I started to feel more afraid and cold inside and I swear my heart almost stopped. I just looked as the mask came off, revealing Thanatos's face to all.

"**I'M YOU ASSHOLE!"** Thanatos said as his shadow launched at me and tied my arms and legs and held me over the lake. I struggled to get free but it was pointless, so I looked at Thanatos's face more carefully, unable to look away. He had snow-white hair that looked like _Devil May Cry_ _3_ Dante's hairstyle and piercing red eyes that burned like fire. His skin was seriously pale (like vampire pale but not _Twilight_ like), and he also had red markings along his body (they look like the Will lines from Fable 2 when maxed out on Will powers…only red) and they pulsated with an eerie red glow.

"**Now do you get it? I was created from the purest, most raw form of darkness inside of you, since the separation I've felt the emotions you've felt. All the anger, the hatred, lust, greed, Fury, destruction, I thrived off it. You sealed me away inside you but now I'm free to do whatever I want! And once I get the Ultimate Sword, you won't be able to seal me away anymore!" **Thanatos said in a demonic tone that was my voice.

He soon stood before me and grinned, **"I've waited for this moment for years…Hehahahahah! Finally! Finally I can be free of you for good!"** Thanatos laughed and pointed his sword at me. I was now scared, so scared, I was about to die and I wished someone could save me, anyone? Help!

I gasped when I felt the cold metal run through me, the sickening sound of metal piercing skin, the taste and sight of my blood everywhere. I looked at the blade as my blood dripped down from it, then at Thanatos, who licked the blood off his face with his tongue as he grinned wide-eyed at me. I soon felt the sword coming out of me slowly, the pain vibrating through every pore in my body.

Thanatos started to lick the blood off the end of the sword that went through me as it got closer to him. Nothing could describe what I felt, it was….so much pain…the sword came out as Thanatos finished licking the blood off. When that happened, the bonds holding me let go and I fell into the lake. I couldn't breathe or anything…I just sank down…I thought I heard Talim scream out my name…

Talim…** (ba bump)**

I'm **(ba bump…)….**sorry **(ba….bump)…**I **(bump)…**I…. **(B-bump)**

….

* * *

**...R&R plz...and also the ba bumps were my heartbeat, just stating the fact.**


	28. Death and Rebirth

**Here's the newest chapter, and most of its in third person this time, and now is where the story starts kicking up. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 27: Death and Rebirth**

No one could believe what they saw or heard, but they had to face facts: Thanatos was Mark's dark half and he just killed his good half, the Mark that everyone started to like (and in Talim's case, love) and send him into the lake. Talim screamed Mark's name and cried heavily, as the others just stood there, stunned by what they saw.

Thanatos finished licking the blood off and soon teleported to where the others were.

"Heh, surprised? Shocked?" Thanatos asked with a smirk.

"No...PISSED!" Joseph said as he, Zach, Sosuke, and mostly everyone attacked him. Thanatos just weaved through the group, slashing them each as he went past, and then ran at Frankie, chuckling like a maniac. Frankie prepared himself for a spell but Thanatos rammed his hand on Frankie's face and pushed him into the wall, hand still on his face.

"Heh, I wonder how hard your skull is? Let's crack it open and see what's inside!" Thanatos said. The sound of Frankie's head being crushed by Thanatos echoed in the air as the now headless Frankie fell to the floor and Thanatos cleaned off the blood on his hand.

"Man, this is just a slaughter," he grinned. He turned to the others, who were getting up despite the injuries.

"Man, if I had time to play right now I would, but sadly I must go, oh and Sophitia, down the hall, a few doors on your left is where you'll find your brat," Thanatos said and disappeared. Sophitia ran into the castle to look for her child, with Cassandra following her.

"Wait, where'd Talim go?" Joseph realized. No one had even noticed Talim jumping into the lake to go after Mark, and was now going to land at that moment.

Talim panted as she set Mark down on the ground, they both were drenched in water, and Mark's glasses were gone, not to mention he still had the large scar where Thanatos stabbed him. Talim managed to heal the scar, but Mark still wasn't breathing. Talim desperately tried to revive him using CPR, but it still didn't work.

"No…you can't die now…not like this…" she whimpered. She soon started to cry heavily onto Mark, "Bring him back…please…don't take him from me…" she sobbed.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I felt nothing before me, only the empty void of oblivion…so this is what it was like to die…and here I was supposed to go to Heaven…is this part of it? Or…was this the fate that awaited me? An empty void of darkness with no light in sight…man…this sucked. I soon saw something blurry come into my vision, wait was I alive? Or did something happen? I soon saw that it was Talim crying over my body, having fished it out of the lake. I felt my heart tear in two from that….yet…I turned behind me and saw the school with my friends in the cafeteria.

They were ok! But…I looked at Talim, then the guys…which to choose…I soon began to hear something…it was Talim's voice.

"…please…don't take him from me…don't take my love away from me…" Talim sobbed. I looked at the image…she called me 'her love'. I smiled softly and turned to the others.

"Sorry guys…I won't be coming back for a while…" I said and went towards the hazy vision of Talim and me.

* * *

Talim cried some more until she heard a gurgling sound; she looked up and saw Mark coughing up blood and water mixed in to it and panted heavily. Talim watched as her soft, tear stricken brown eyes met the dark brown eyes of Mark, who gave a soft, yet warm smile.

"Hey…" was the first word he said. Talim didn't know where to beat him up or hug and kiss him, but her arms were around his chest when she made a decision and she bawled like a baby. Mark rubbed her back and held her in his arms to comfort her.

"Hey, I'm back aren't I?" He asked her. Talim sniffled and smiled and hugged again. Mark heard someone coming and cracked open an eye to see Joseph and the others coming towards them.

"Hey…can I get some alone time here?" Mark asked them once they came by.

"You're…alive?" Mina asked with surprise.

"Duh…but later…I want a nap…" Mark said softly before closing his eyes and slept with Talim in his arms.

Cassandra went to Talim and nudged her lightly, "Hey, maybe you should…let…go?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow when Talim didn't answer. The soft breathing they heard soon made them realize, with some of the girls (except Ivy, who just smiled a bit) that Talim fell asleep hugging Mark. After a bit of a debate as to who would carry them, it was decided that Mark would be carried by Kilik and Talim by Mina. As for transportation, they were suddenly engulfed by a bright light and were soon in the middle garden of the temple, Elder E having casted a teleport spell to save them time.

"Normally I'd ask what happened, but I'll ask tomorrow, for now rest, you've all had a rough day," E told them. They didn't argue and after dropping off Mark and Talim, went to their rooms to sleep.

* * *

Meanwhile…

Thanatos flicked off the blood droplets as he stood before Malgreed.

"I take it that they got the message?" Malgreed asked.

"Yeah they did, even got to kill Frankie too," Thanatos said with a grin.

"Good…now then…for phase two of the plan…you have a fix on Nightmare?" Malgreed asked the man behind them. Sitting on a large throne, white hair swept back in braids with white eyes, sat Algol.

"Yes…he is coming here for Siegfried…" Algol said.

"Good…get ready Thanatos; soon, we'll be one step to the power of God in our hands…" Malgreed said as he clenched his fist.

* * *

**So it looks like Mark (me) isn't dead after all, but with his return, frankie's life was taken. What shall happen now to the group as they recover? and What sinister plans do Malgreed and Thanatos have in mind for Soul Edge and Soul Calibur? Stay tuned...R&R plz!**


	29. Revelations

**And now, here's the chapter that you've all waited for! This chapter will explain everything thus far...well most of it...Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 28: Revelations**

I soon dreamt again, it was the same dream, but now I saw it fully instead of bits and pieces. It was weird but I was looking as if through someone else's eyes.

_Algol sat on his throne with Malgreed watching as Mark started to get up. _

"_Huh? What…where am I" Mark asked as he looked around, then saw Algol and Malgreed. "You!" He pointed a finger at them._

"_Yes, do you remember me?" Malgreed asked. Mark thought and suddenly remembered making a character named Malgreed who looked like the same man standing before him. _

"_You're that character I created! But…how'd you get out?" Mark asked him._

"_Long story, but you're the one key component I need in my plans" Malgreed tossed him a sword, which landed in front of Mark. He looked at the sword and picked it up; it felt heavy in his hands and he looked at the two men._

"_Which one am I fighting?" He asked the two. _

"_Both" They said and charged at Mark. Although he fought valiantly, he soon fell on the floor. Malgreed went to him and summoned a ball of dark energy in his hand and infused it into his sword. He then stabbed Mark through it; Mark's eyes opened with shock, then closed as a ball of light appeared above him, then rose until it was above their heads._

_Suddenly the shadows in the area suddenly flew towards the glowing ball as it was usurped in a typhoon of darkness. Soon Thanatos appeared and floated down, landing on his feet and his trademark helmet forming around his head._

"_Seeing as you are Mark's darkness…an appropriate name for you would be 'Thanatos'" Malgreed said to him._

"_As you wish…Master Malgreed," Thanatos said._ As I watched how Thanatos was created, the scene changed, it was the same area but without me and in my place was Nightmare.

Oh damn…

"_Well Nightmare, glad you can make it…" Thanatos said with a grin (he no longer has his helmet on)._

"_Silence you whelp, I am here for Siegfried…" Nightmare grumbled._

"_Yeah…about that…you're gonna give me Soul Edge…whether you want to or not…" Thanatos said and pointed his sword at Nightmare. _

"_FOOL! You think you can kill me?" Nightmare roared and charged at Thanatos. The two dark souls clashed at each other, Thanatos glowing with a crimson red aura and Nightmare with his regular aura but brighter. Thanatos dodged Nightmare's swing and stabbed him in the stomach, Nightmare gasped from that and Thanatos pulled away from his as a bunch of the souls from the wound flew out. Nightmare grabbed his side and gasped from the loss, in time for Thanatos to kick him hard and make him drop Soul Edge, which Thanatos picked up and stabbed Nightmare with it, much to Algol and Malgreed's surprise._

"_Did he just…" Algol began to say._

"_Yep…this outta be good," Malgreed said. Nightmare's energy (the glowing vapor thing in the armor) soon went inside Soul Edge, which started to grown tendrils that snaked up Thanatos's arm._

"_**You think you can control me?"**_ _Soul Edge asked Thanatos. Thanatos grinned as the tendrils suddenly flew off his arm, inside the sword, Thanatos stood before Inferno as the darkness behind him felt cold against the flames of Inferno._

"_**You think you can beat me? You're just a soul who got separated from its true self, you're just a fraction of the darkness"**__ Inferno said._

"_Tch, you think I'm not strong enough? I got the hatred of a child who's bottled it up for years, I can easily kill you!" Thanatos yelled and soon transformed. Inferno looked up at a newly transformed Thanatos, a silhouette of a winged demonic creature hanging over him._

_There was a bright light and soon Malgreed and Algol looked at a newly transformed Thanatos. He now had spiked armor, the red will lines now glowing, looking like thorns on his face, his hair spiked up, and he also had two pairs of seriously demonic looking wings with an orange membrane and black bones, not to mention a tail (similar to b-st Haseo's tail from .Hack G.U Trilogy movie) that swished lazily. The claws on his hands were sharpened to the point and Thanatos's canids were sharper as well. _

"_Amazing…" Algol muttered. The Soul Edge now looked much more upgraded than before, it looked more of a fleshy appearance, and now made of metal. The eye of soul edge now was completely red with a black slit for a pupil, plus it looked really wicked (good and bad way)._

"_**Now that we have Soul Edge, we just need its sister to complete the sword,"**__ Thanatos said in a demonic tone. _

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I woke up with a start, now aching in my chest from where Thanatos stabbed me, causing me to fall onto the bed in agonizing pain. My god why me? What did I do to deserve this? A warm hand on my hand and a soft kiss on my forehead caused me to look at who was the one doing that.

It was Talim…well at least some good came out of it. As soon as she finished kissing me and smiled sweetly at me, her eyes tearing up with happiness.

"Hey don't go crying on me ok?" I asked her softly. A smile and a hug was her response. "How long was I out?" I asked as I held her in my arms.

"Ten days…but tell me…what happened?" Talim asked. I was going to talk, but the others barged in and they asked the same thing.

"Ok, ok…" I said. "Alright…Thanatos is…well…he's my darker half…I guess he's the combination of my darkness inside me and my hatred, I tried to keep him contained…until now…Malgreed took Thanatos out of me, and due to his hatred of being cooped up in me, he thought that killing me would make him free…big mistake…" I muttered that last part.

"Well seeing him without that helmet on pretty much explained everything," Mina said.

"Um…actually…before I woke up I had another dream…Thanatos has Soul Edge now…" I told them.

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled. My chest started hurting again as I panted.

"Why does…this hurt?" I yelled in pain.

After getting healed, I explained about my dream I had and once finished, Yun seong spoke out.

"Well this is great! The dark half of our friend has Soul Edge now!" he said.

"Yeah…but what do they need it for?" Joseph wondered.

"I can guess what they want…" Elder E said as he walked in with a scroll in his hand. We looked at E as he put the scroll on the table and unfurled it.

"This is what they're after…" E said as we crowded around. We saw the image of a man holding a large two handed sword with light coming out of it…wait…why does it seem familiar?

"The Ultima Sword…" E muttered.

"Huh?" I asked.

"When I saw Thanatos's face for the first time, I wondered what Malgreed was planning; I researched until I found this…" E explained. "This sword…this is a sword of such great power, that whoever wields it will have the powers of a god…" E stated.

"Whoa…" we all said.

"Yes…but a soul of good and a soul of evil, wielding Soul Calibur and Soul Edge respectively, can create it…and they have one piece of the puzzle…" E said.

"So Thanatos being Mark's darker half…" Joseph began.

"Malgreed was gonna use me to create the sword…" I finished.

"Damn…we are so screwed…" Kilik said.

"Well not yet, we need Soul Calibur…" I said.

"No, you need to rest after what happened with Thanatos," E told me. I wanted to protest, but he was right, I needed the rest.

"Fine…" I sighed. I got back into bed as the others left…except Talim, who stayed with me.

"I'm glad you're alive…" she said softly.

"Heh, you know I'm too stubborn to die that easily," I grinned at her. Talim smiled, and then yawned loudly. "Did you eat or get some sleep?" I asked her.

"Well…I got some snacks to eat…and the food they brought for you in case you woke up…" Talim said softly.

"And sleep?" I asked.

"Well…a little…I stood up for a few hours…all night…" Talim confessed.

"…get in…" I told her as I scooted over to make room. Talim now went at least five shades of red before she came into the bed with me and lay there beside me, a minute later she was out like a light. Man, she's just so damn cute when she's asleep…heh…I rested my head on my pillow and closed my eyes, sleep taking over everything moments later.

* * *

Thanatos's eyes opened up as he stopped leaning against the pillar he was leaning on previously.

"**He's alive…"** Thanatos growled.

"Good, it means he'll be useful for the forging," Malgreed said.

"Once he arrives with Soul Calibur, the god sword will be reborn into the world once more…" Malgreed grinned. "In the meantime, Thanatos, test out that new power you got ok?" he told the dark side. Thanatos just nudged his head and headed downstairs while Malgreed looks at the landscape before him.

"It's so beautiful here…but the new world's beauty will surpass all of this…" Malgreed smirked.

* * *

**Well at least some things are made clear. Malgreed wants to forge the Ultima Sword and gain the powers of a god and using me to do it. But what shall happen now that they have Soul Edge? Stay tuned to find out! R&R Plz!**


	30. The Next Step

**Alright pplz, i am back with a brand new slice of my Soul Calibur story, i am grateful to all my loyal viewers for their support. Oh and also this one's a little sappy, but its all i could think of, besides, we all need a break from the fighting now and then eh? Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Calibur or anything, all i do own are my characters and weapons and junk.**

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**Chapter 29: The Next Step**

I started to wake up, a little bit better than last time, still tired though. I saw Talim sleeping soundly next to me, I felt a bit guilty for causing her so much pain, right now, I just wanted two things: one, to get some sleep, and two, to make sure I didn't hurt Talim anymore. A soft yawn told me Talim was waking up, she fluttered her eyes and looked at me, then snuggled a bit closer to me.

"Morning…" I said with a smile.

"Mmm…" Talim replied with a cute grin.

"You hungry?" I asked her. She nodded and started to get out of bed, as did I, and that's when it hit me. "Where are my glasses?" I asked her.

"I tried to find them…but they must've sunk into the lake…" Talim said in a sad tone. I sighed and held a hand over my eyes, blinking a few times before I threw it back.

"Ah I never looked good in them anyway," I said half-heartedly. Talim giggled from that statement as we both went to the kitchen for food. We found the others there as well, apparently hungry as we were.

"Glad to see the two lovebirds are up," Mina kidded.

"Stow it…" I replied and took a rice ball.

"You're not wearing your glasses," Xianghua said as she and Kilik came in.

"Eh, I look better without them," I told her. Once everyone came and ate E summoned us, probably to tell us about the plan we were trying to come up with.

"As you all know, Malgreed wants the Ultima sword, which is why Thanatos was created," E said.

"We know that already…" I told him.

"Yes, but I found out where they are…" E said as he turned our attention to a large mirror in the room. It soon showed a large tower surrounded by magma and islands of cooled rock, it looked incomplete for some reason, with chunks missing from the walls.

"The Tower of Lost Souls…" I realized when the memory of Thanatos's birth replayed in my head.

"It appeared right after Thanatos and Malgreed left Ostrheinsburg after stabbing you and killing Frankie," Joseph said.

"Wait, what?" I asked him with shock. Joseph explained about Frankie's death by Thanatos's hands, although I rarely talked with him…well a lot actually, I felt guilty, mainly since Thanatos was revealed to be me.

"So that's where we gotta go fight Thanatos huh?" Yun Seong said as he crossed his arms on her chest.

"Yep…" I mumbled.

"Hang on, you need to recover from what happened, and in your state you'd be turned to chili in a few minutes," E told us. Of all the things he said…he was right.

"But what can we do then?" Zach asked.

"Train, it's the only way any of you will stand a chance against them, Algol especially," E stated.

"Well there's our next step…" I mumbled.

* * *

The next few weeks were of us training each other in our elemental abilities and our swordsmanship to better get ready for the fight in the Tower. I especially trained in my fire moves, after fighting Thanatos, we were basically the same, and his black flames were more potent than mine, not to mention dangerous and hot…I had to get stronger, I just had too.

I panted as I dodged Talim's kick she threw at me, and then tried to land a punch on her. She gracefully dodged to the left and shot her hand forward, causing a gust of wind to send me flying a bit, skidding onto the ground. I used the momentum to charge at Talim, gaining an extra speed to actually slice at her. She blocked most of the attack, with a slight scar on her elbow.

She managed to twist her body and during this, used the momentum to kick my gut, sending me flying into a way…and DAMN did it hurt like hell! After gagging for a minute or two, praying I didn't throw up my breakfast, I wiped my mouth and stared down Talim.

"Thought you were going to throw up for a second," Talim said in a sweet, yet mocking tone.

"Tch, you know I got guts of steel!" I said and charged when I yelled 'steel'. We trained for another hour or so before stopping for a break, man, Talim's moves were improving, and her mastery of wind was so much better than mine.

"I'm improving more and more each day…I feel like I'm living up to my name…" Talim said as we sat under the shade of a tree.

"Yeah…you're the last of your kind right?" I asked her.

Talim looked saddened by that and nodded slowly, her head looking down, "Yes…there were many of us once, who came to be trained in using wind…but what's been going on now however…I…I'm starting to become thankful there is another person who knows wind…" she said and smiled at me.

I felt blood rushing to my face and turned so she wouldn't see. "Heh, that's kinda cute from you…" I said with a grin.

"Mark…" Talim said and hued me, "Thank you…for everything…" she said and kissed my lips softly. Man…her lips were so soft…mm…what's what smell? Peaches? Apples? Some Filipino shampoo she's using? Oh wait I don't think shampoo was invented yet…a tug on my sleeve got e back into reality, where I had been staring into space for the past three or four minutes.

"Sorry…" I apologized to her.

"It's ok…you were wondering what that smell was huh?" Talim asked me.

I nodded.

"It's a mix that supposedly is used to clean hair, I got one done in India while we were there and asked how they did it and the lady there offered to teach me, after that I used whatever plants and fruit I found on my travels and tried to do the same thing I learned. "Talim said as she shook her head, letting her pigtails swing during the movement. "This is a mix of some berries and herbs to give it its smell," she explained.

…Wow…the fact she knew how to make shampoo like that…impressive…most impressive…oh god I'm quoting from Star Wars again…mm…I gotta stop overexerting myself in training.

"Mark…when you got stabbed back there by Thanatos…it felt like my heart got torn right out of me…" Talim said. I looked at her, sitting up against the tree, I held my hand over where Thanatos stabbed me, and the memory of cold steel running through my insides was just…horrific…

"When I fished you out of the lake I healed the scar and tried CPR to save your life…but…" Talim now shook, trying to control her tears, "but…you didn't wake up…I had almost lost all hope…but…you started coughing and opened your eyes I…" Talim wiped tears from her eyes. I felt so sorry for her, she suffered than me and here I am narrowly escaping death because of her.

I held Talim close to me, letting her head rest on my chest, having an ear where my heart was. Talim could hear the beating of the heart and smiled.

"Listen…it's still beating, so I'm still here, okay? Don't blame yourself for my sake," I told her softly.

"Mark…are…you gonna leave? When you beat Algol and Thanatos and Malgreed?" She asked me. I paused, was I? I could go back to my friend and life back home…but…something kept telling me not to go back…why?

"…" I closed my eyes and responded with a kiss on Talim's lips. At first she was surprised, but returned it.

"So?" she asked and stared at me.

"I'll stay…I promise, when it's all said and done…" I told her, sealing my fate here. I had to come and face the facts: I loved Talim, and she did with me…maybe this is where I belong…Mmm…I felt Talim snuggle into my arms and held her there, forgetting about the training. Just this one moment of peace we got…I'm glad I'm spending it with her…even if I won't be completely who I am now when I fight on the Tower's roof or when I become fused with Thanatos and Algol…this…this will be one moment I'll treasure deeply…And that's the only thing I'll need. I closed my eyes, still holding Talim close, and slept, my oath now solid as a rock.

* * *

**A break from fighting is always a good thing, as new emotions emerge to show true selves and create oaths. What shall the gang do once they are ready to reach the Tower of Lost Souls? and Will Mark keep his promise? Stay Tuned. R&R plz!**


	31. Tower of the Lost Souls

**And here is the chapter you've been waiting for! Now sit back and enjoy pplz!**

* * *

**Chapter 30: Tower of the Lost Souls**

I coughed from the smoke coming from the lava below us, how exactly lava replaced water was one of the things I wondered, and why did the tower have to be in the middle of this hellhole is beyond me. We had trained until E told us we were ready to fight Algol the others…and also after we had given Frankie a good funeral…at least E told me they did while I was out of it during those 10 days. We spent the next few days traveling to the tower, a sense of danger hanging over us as we got closer.

I then took into account at how close the rest of the gang was getting to each other. Sosuke I caught one resting on Mina's shoulder while she petted him one night while I went to take a leak, heh, looks like those two are definitely crushing big time. Cassandra was still flirting with Joseph when no one was looking, hell I even caught them both with Cassandra licking Joseph's neck.

Man, they were just lucky, Joseph didn't speak to me about it until recently, where he revealed he was starting to like Cassandra, to be precise he crushed on her since she flirted with him the first time. I admired the relationship, plus since Talim and I was an item now I guess it was fair. Zach and Ivy seemed to be getting along quite well…don't know why though…but maybe they liked each other?

…Nah…Kilik and Xianghua were doing ok I guess, despite Xianghua acting a bit like an airhead some of the time and sometimes Kilik acting like the idiot, they were doing well. Hell, now I started to notice changes in everyone's appearances. Joseph was getting muscular, as were we all, his skin a little darker, and he now wore a grey shirt with one of the sleeves torn and a dark blue jacket to go with it, a new scarf and leather pants and boots.

Zach also had some improved muscles, let his hair grow out and had the bottom part of it dyed blonde (where he got it remains a mystery) he also got his outfit dyed black, yellow and dark blue, he also used his staff as a mix of a walking stick and also to carry a bundle like a hitchhiker would do.

Sosuke had also improved in personality and appearance. His hair was a little more spiked and longer too, now tied in a ponytail. His skin also became tanned, probably from hanging around with us for so long, his choice in clothing even changed. He now wore a dull mustard yellow colored ninja outfit that made him look like Hayate from _Dead or Alive_ series, only with black spiky hair instead.

I myself had changed too, my skin was more tanned, my acne problem also cleared up, and thanks to Elder E for giving me a razor, I could shave easier. Due to my jacket being burned during my fight with Thanatos, E helped me out by letting me choose through a…rather expansive brand of clothing he had acquired over his years. After some careful selection (I'm picky about clothing) I eventually pulled out some new clothes and checked it out in a mirror.

I wore a red jacket, much longer than my old one and bigger too; it looked rather good on me. I also wore a white dress-shirt underneath that with a black belt-strap like my old Dueler's jacket across my chest. I also wore tan leather pants and boots to complete the ensemble, but then one thing made me realize something:

My sword was destroyed when Thanatos attacked me…

Fortunately E managed to re-forge my sword (how he did was anyone's guess) but it was so…different than before. It had a longer blade and looked like a zanpakutō actually.

"What the? What's this?" I had asked him.

"It's your sword, like Joseph with Brionac; this sword is a part of you. While you were knocked out, I took the liberty of repairing your sword. That's when I noticed something about your spirit…it was strong, when Thanatos took over Soul Edge your spirit caused the blade to transform into its true form. I wanted to surprise you when you had completely healed, so I had given you the other sword as a back up," E explained.

I looked at E, then my sword, wondering what to call it…

"When a Phoenix gets too old it gets engulfed in flames, then rises from its ashes…" E suddenly said. "Since you had 'died' per-say, you were reborn from your ashes, so too did this sword," E stated.

"Phoenix…" I couldn't help but grin from that, "Not a bad name, it's cool and intimidating like me," I said with a devilish grin. Learning of this, I had trained for the rest of the remaining days using my new sword, now dubbed 'Phoenix', and soon got the hang of it. Few days later we were on our way to the Tower when we came across Raphael and Amy…boy was that fight interesting.

* * *

**Flashback**

_I panted from the attacks Raphael and Amy gave; those two were powerful despite using rapiers. I gripped Phoenix in my hands as flames started to appear around the blade, "To think you two are forcing me to use this…" I muttered._

"_Hang on…who are you?" Raphael asked me._

"_Mark, why?" I asked._

"_Mark…you know about Malgreed?" Amy asked._

"_Yeah…why?" I replied._

"_Malgreed…did you know of someone named Tom?" Raphael asked. At the mention of Tom's name, Zach and I jumped._

"_You met him?" we both asked. _

_Raphael nodded, "Yes…and Malgreed as well, he killed our servants and then Tom in cold blood, since then we had to recover and march on to find Soul Edge…until we got word of its new master that is…" Raphael explained. The cold feeling of dread filled us both, Tom, even if he was always not part of the conversation, was still a friend….now Malgreed is gonna pay…_

"_Then you want to join our group then?" Joseph said. As much as I turned, scowled at Joseph and really wanted to kill him, having more allies would make it easier to kill Thanatos and Malgreed with. _

"_Alright…" I muttered, "If you two want to join you're more than welcome to…but if either of you two bites one of us, having a sword through your heart is gonna be the least of your problems…" I told the two._

**End Flashback**

* * *

And that basically explains how the two joined our group; it was nice to see two of the Soul Calibur villains in the early series actually helping us out…its strange, I know them so much already and they're like real people, not like in a game…now it's hard to tell if this is real…or a game…and one question now keeps nagging me in the back of my head as we kept nearing the tower:

Would any of us go back to our old lives? Or would we stay here with our new ones?

A jerk from behind caused me to fall and hit my head on the floor. "Ow! What the hell Kilik?" I asked, grumbling as I healed the bump with some wind powers.

"You nearly fell off that cliff…" he responded. I looked and then realized he was right, I wasn't paying attention and nearly went over the edge…literally!

"Oh…heh, my bad…" I said with a goofy grin.

"You sure you're ok? You've been zoning out a lot recently since we left the inn a while back…" Mina asked me.

"I'm fine, just got a lot on my mind is all," I told her. I didn't want to tell them about what I was thinking, I wanted to keep it a secret form the others. I soon saw the tower in front of us; even from here I could see the swirling clouds around the apex of the tower, as well as feel the power of the newly created Soul Edge.

I felt a pulse run through me as I looked at the tower, followed by my legs feeling weak.

'_You can't beat me…no one can…not while I wield Soul Edge…'_ Thanatos's voice said. I held my hand over my mouth, trying not to vomit from the feeling I got now.

"Mark?" Talim asked as I tried to hold down my bile.

"It's Thanatos…" I croaked and almost puked.

'_Turn back now…or else you and your friends are doomed…'_ Thanatos warned before the presence disappeared. I panted and regained my composure a little bit later, but Thanatos's voice still haunted me, now I was worried about what Thanatos had cooked up as we neared the large platform where in the game we would fight one of the special characters (like Asholette, Shura, etc.). My surprise was that there was no one there to challenge us…yet…

"Man…this…seems too easy…" Joseph said cautiously. I had to agree, even Malgreed wasn't this predictable. That's when I saw something vanish in the corner of my eye…it wasn't human looking either. I quickly spun and jumped away in a fluid movement just as something appeared and tried to stab me. The other dodged as well and I landed on the ground, now able to get a good look at the creature before me.

The creature was completely draped in shadow, save only two glowing red eyes. It looked like the creature that attacked Joseph and Sosuke that one time when we were all separated. It soon took on a new form, this one more like Lizardman's stance, only as a dark shadowy figure of it. It soon looked at me and flew (literally, for it grew a pair of wings) straight towards me.

"Oh shi-" Was all I could get out before I got its hand on my face and sent flying over the edge.

"MARK!" everyone yelled.

* * *

**Oh man, is Mark dead...again? Stay Tuned to learn the answer! R&R plz!**


	32. The Nightmare Beasts

**Well, after much of a hiatus in which Vindictus came out, i am now back with a new chappie! and this one includes another character who was added to the Soul calibur ranks. And also i had nothing to go on so this is what i made, anyway, enjoy!

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**

**Chapter 31: The Nightmare Beasts**

I tried to escape the grasp of the hell beast but as soon as we got over the ledge, I kicked him...well kicked it with my knee more like, causing him to let go. I barely managed to grab the ledge when he let me go and I saw him suddenly grow wings and fly towards the platform again, I knew he was after the others.

I hastily climbed up, but god damn it! Even after all the exercise I got and the muscles, it still hard for me to climb! I panted once I reached the top, but stopped when I saw _there was more than one of those shadow beasts_!

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" I yelled. One of them took notice of me and charged right at me, this one had tendrils on his back and had Voldo's style. Ah damn it, why this style? I tried to block or dodge the attacks, but they still kept hitting and slamming me to the ground… damn it…still can't fight back! I tried to use my flames as a shield of some sorts, which worked out and managed to halt them long enough for me to get ready to attack.

When the flames dissipated, I saw it now using Kilik's style, just what are these things? I managed to dodge the attacks, since being around Kilik I was able to get around its defenses and beat it. The creature let out a primal roar and fell to the ground, dead apparently. I looked at the creature, then stepped back (well…jumped back) as the thing dissolved and flew away as a little core of darkness.

I turned to the others as they were fighting the shadow beasts; it was strange how they changed styles so quickly. Nevertheless, I joined in fighting one of the beasts who now used Cervantes's style, it shot a bullet and I felt it whizz right past my head. I charged at the Cervantes beast creature and attacked it. This one was thankfully weakened because of the others so it soon fell and did the same thing the other one did when it died.

I turned to the last nightmare beast but it soon was killed by Sosuke and it soon did the same, we followed the shadow core to where the entrance into the Tower was…but instead all we saw was just at least…one hundred thousand of those nightmare beasts…What the fuck is this, _Lord of the Ring: Return of the King_?

"Son of a bitch…" Almost everyone muttered.

"There's…too many…" Xianghua said with shock and awe at the number of the beasts.

"We're so fucked…" Yun Seong muttered.

I tried to think of something we could do to stop or get through these things…but nothing came up…there has to be something we could do! We soon heard something fall and got out of the way once we saw a bunch of flaming boulders landing amidst the crowd of beasts.

"What the heck?" Xianghua asked as we watched the bombardment. I looked to see who was doing it and grinned when I saw the emblem.

"The Wolfkrone Army!" I said. Yeah, I might have forgotten to mention we crossed paths with Hilde a while back I think. Ooh yeah…now I remember!

* * *

**Flashback**

_I walked through the town right after Ostrheinsburg, which we just passed by on our way here, paying our respects to Frankie as we did to honor his memory. The others were getting supplies ready for the trip to the Tower, E told us it was surrounded by magma…or lava was it? Anyway, there was a bunch of harden molten rocks as well for platforms, making it difficult to cross over the land. _

_So anyway, I was walking down town when I heard a horse's whine. I looked and quickly went with the crowd as they stepped back from the road. _

"_What's going on?" I asked one of them._

"_Apparently there's this kingdom called Wolfkrone that's been going around to find Soul Edge" the person next to me said. I looked at soldiers in armor walked past the crowd of people aligned on the sides of the street. I then recognized the lead rider of the troop instantly by her face. _

_That was Hilde._

_She was a new addition to the Soul Calibur game but I had to admit she was a good fighter, and she's also very beautiful…wait she's older than me what am I thinking? I waited until the army passed and went to inform the others about this. Later I did while we ate at the inn; the others seemed a bit surprised by this news._

"_Wait, why would the Wolfkrone Army be here?" Joseph asked. _

"_Don't know, but I bet they'll probably ask to talk with us once they heard we're here" I said. Later I was correct by my assumption, since now we were in front of Hilde explaining why we were here and what was going on. _

"_Well, normally I wouldn't believe what you said, but considering what I heard, I have to believe it," Hilde said to us. She had explained that while they went to find Soul Edge, specifically Nightmare, they came across Thanatos and Malgreed and fought, from what I know they had wiped out a portion of the army with little effort. _

"_Man, why is it you're the one who is responsible for a shit load of stuff?" Yun seong said. I tried not to burn that poor man into crisp…and I did, well, it wasn't intentional, more like an accident. _

"_Alright, enough you two!" Hilde ordered. Normally I wouldn't give a damn about authorities…ok I would but secretly hate it, but Hilde seemed…different, I guess all those years she did with the army as a child really gave her the authority to say things like this. _

"_Sorry…" we both said._

"_It's alright…but now I'm concerned, if Thanatos is Mark's dark side and now possess Soul Edge, what shall happen to you?" Hilde asked, looking at me._

"_What do you mean?" I asked her. _

"_Thanatos is your darker half right? So that would mean if he obtained Soul Edge, he could easily manipulate you to do his dirty work," Hilde said. That little tidbit stuck me cold inside, could that really happen to me? Would I really become Thanatos's puppet?_

_These words still jumbled in my head as the others discussed an alliance to get rid of our foes._

**End Flashback**

* * *

I still never forgot what Hilde said to me that day, since Thanatos got that sword, he could turn me against my friends any time…I had to end this, at least…for Talim's sake…what? I love her…

Anyway, while the beasts were being distracted, we snuck into the tower.

"Ok…so it looks like there is going to be some time before we reach the top…like maybe fifty floor of enemies, ready?" I asked everyone.

They all nodded and I opened the door, already feeling the same pressure form before. This was it, this was where we'd finally see if we're worthy to save the world…

…This is gonna fucking rock!

* * *

**And Indeed it shall rock! What will become of the group as they venture into the tower's upper floors? and what shall become of hilde as her army fights the nightmare ebasts? Stay tuned to find out! R&R plz!**


	33. Top of the World Baby

**Hello fellow readers an watchers! Sorry for the long update, was really busy lately...and procrastination and RP issues going on with me but asides from that, i finally got the chapter up! anyway, enjoy, because this is where the start of the end will begin!**

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**Chapter 32: Top of the World Baby**

We entered the tower and discovered the first floor to be a foyer of some sort, the windows were stained glass and all the walls were all the same stone…weird, but still beautiful.

"This place brings everything we know about architecture to shame…" Joseph said as we looked around the room. I nodded as well to that statement, looking at all the stained glassed windows everywhere.

"Damn…" I muttered and walked along the halls of the tower, how Algol fit these into here is beyond me, but it was cool.

"Hmm, looks like we'll have to climb at least 50 levels of this place to reach Algol at the top." Talim said.

"Seems so…well, let's get started!" I said with my trademark grin. I soon saw one of the walls reveal a set of stairs for us to use.

"Great…stairs…" Zach said with a realization that we'd have to walk up the stairs to get to Algol. I sighed and started up the long flight of stairs.

* * *

Now, I would bore you with all that we found on each floor was a fight with small fries and each floor was much different than the last, but that wouldn't be nearly as fun. So I'll explain a bit more, apparently, when we reached the tenth floor of the tower, turned out every tenth floor contained a boss we had to kill.

We had gone through at least thirty floors until after that we found a large garden inside at floor thirty-one.

"What the hell?" I asked when we saw the garden.

"When did this get here?" Joseph asked as he looked around the garden.

"Maybe they're giving us a break and letting us rest?" Zach suggested.

"Possibly…" I muttered. I looked to where Talim was and saw she was fast asleep on the ground, as were some of the other girls.

"Aww…maybe a break would do us all some good…" I said. The others agreed to that and we soon were sleeping with our loved ones, yeah, I knew all along about who was paired up with that, wasn't that hard to figure out either. I cuddled with Talim, who was more than happy to return it.

* * *

I woke up a while later, a bit well-rested, but still a bit tired from all the fighting. It was hard to tell if it was day or night in this place, but since Talim was asleep still, I guess it was early morning. Anyway, a tiny smile crept on my face as Talim slept soundly, my arm around her shoulder, Talim nibbling on the tip of her thumb, she looked adorable.

I saw her shift, rolling over but still sleeping soundly. I lifted my hand so she could sleep more soundly and got up, surveying the others as they slept. It was hard to believe pretty soon this journey was going to end…but…every time I thought of this, I kept feeling…torn…torn between going back to my world or staying here with Talim…

Could I be able to go back? After everything that's happened? Would I be able to cope with the fact that I've fought my way up here and go back to the world where I've been insulted, picked on and mistreated? Or would I stay here, where it was easier to live in peaceful times before all the bad things happened?

I then realized I had fallen asleep while thinking this, since a light shake from Talim woke me up.

"Sorry to wake you but you were mumbling in your sleep," Talim said in a soft whisper. I nodded and got up, noticing she was on her knees.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"A few minutes to half-an-hour" Talim said. I gave Talim my infamous crocked eyebrow expression when she said the time.

"How did you figure it out?" I asked her.

"The windows, and look up," Talim said and gestured a finger to the sky. I looked up and then noticed there was an artificial sun in place, and I looked and saw there was a sundial as well. At least this explained a lot.

I hummed from that and looked at the ceiling…then covered my eyes so I wouldn't be blinded.

"Thinking about what to do after we win right?" Talim asked me.

"Yep…" I replied simply. I got up and stretched, "Wale the others, we're gonna get going soon…" I said to Talim. A few minutes everyone was up, tired, but up, although I found it funny when Ivy was cuddling Zach, it was both creepy and cute as well. Anyway, we had a light breakfast and continued our trek upwards, each level becoming harder and more difficult as we did.

* * *

At floor 40 we rested up, since these last ten floors was where Algol was once we hit stage 50…and trust me, if he's anything like the Tower of Lost Souls mode in SC4 then we're screwed. I panted once we slew down the last of the monsters on the 49th floor and looked at the door that lead to the fiftieth floor of the tower.

"This is it…" I said as I stared at the doorway.

"Hey guys…let me go in first alright? There's something I gotta do," I told them, even though it was obvious what I needed to do.

"Alright, go on ahead, we'll rest up for a bit," Yun seong said.

"Alright," I said with a nod.

Talim hugged me tightly, and I returned the hug, as well as a kiss on her lips, which she readily returned.

"Come back safely…" she whispered to me softly.

"I will, I promise," I told her. The other girls each went and hugged and kissed me, wishing me good luck, Ivy did the same, but kissed both my cheeks.

"Good luck out there," she told me. I nodded and turned to the door, the door that led to the fight of my life…god I'm such a drama king…

I opened the door, feeling a rush of cold air enter the room, bracing myself for it I went forward boldly, the door slamming shut behind me as I did.

* * *

I walked forward, clearly feeling the power from before, but strongly now than before. I walked until I soon reached the apex of the tower…and soon saw Thanatos before me, his back turned against me as he was looking at the magnificent view from up here.

"**It's beautiful isn't it?"** he asked as he slightly turned his head towards me, an eye half-open. "**This world…it's beautiful…not like ours with it, pollution, poverty and crime everywhere…can you not see what the world will look like once we have the Ultima Sword?"** Thanatos asked, now fully facing me.

"While I agree our world is a fucking cesspool, I can't let you kill thousands of innocent people just for your own goals of freedom," I told him.

"**You're still ignorant, I know you Mark, and deep down you want that power to get vengeance on everyone who made fun of you admit it!"** Thanatos said.

He was right…I did want the power to get revenge…I wanted it so bad…but…

"No…that was before…now…now I want to make sure that kind of power never gets into the hands of man or anyone!" I yelled.

Thanatos gave another of his maniac laughs when I said that," **Give me a break! You and I all know that if you wanted to, humanity could make something of that power, they're nothing but pansies to not use it, well they're pansies to begin with, and they're trying to gain power like this…you know they'll always be weak humans who are only obsessed with power and nothing else"** Thanatos said.

"While I agree with that statement, some humans have redeeming qualities…not all humans deserve to be killed you know…" I said to him.

"**What about him?"** Thanatos asked, gesturing to beside me. I turned and saw Siegfried on the ground, cuts along his armor and Soul Calibur sticking up beside him.

"**He got here a bit early before you did and tried to go after Soul edge…poor fool…" **Thanatos said. I went over to Siegfried and looked at his wounds, yep, they were serious…Thanatos must've went all out on him, since there were deep cuts on the armor, with some blood coming out of a few cuts. I checked his pulse to see if he was alive…unfortunately it looked like the wounds were too deep and he had died when I just came up too.

I looked at soul Calibur and smirked a bit, "So…we finally meet…Calibur…" I said to it as I stood over it, my hand reaching for the handle.

"Ready to kick Soul edge's ass?" I asked and pulled it out of the ground.

"_**Yes…Let's destroy Soul Edge once and for all"**_ the female voice of Soul Calibur rang into my head. I nodded and stared at Thanatos, wielding the twisted form of Calibur's brother in his clawed hands. This was it…

This was where it would all end…

* * *

**Okay, i'm gonna probably get bashed for killing Siegfreid, but i didn't think of anyway for me to get Soul Calibur so i made this up...**

**Anyway, armed with Soul Calibur now, what shall the outcome between me and Thanatos? Which spirit sword will win? Stay tuned for the climatic battle! and R&R plz!**


	34. The Clash of Souls

**And now, ehre is chapter 33 ppl and faithful watchers! And this is where the things get good. Trust me, anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 33: The Clash of Souls**

The two of us charged at each other and clashed sword with each other, sending out shockwaves of energy from each clash we made. My heart raced with adrenaline as we both clashed at each other, if I lost now then everything and everyone I knew would be gone forever. I dodged an attack from Thanatos and fired a lightning bolt at his face, it hit him dead on as he stumbled back, holding a hand to his face, but then I saw his face instantly fix itself and was soon good as new.

"Shit…forgot about that…" I muttered, remembering about how strong the power of Soul edge was. It then hit me that whoever used Soul Edge had increased power, but at the cost of life-force, where as Soul Calibur healed and protected. Now I wondered when we became one again, would I have a shortened lifespan or extended.

I snapped out of this when a dark lightning bolt nearly singed my face. Now I was pissed, and what better way to let it out than blowing out fire from my mouth like a dragon at him. This move I learned from Elder E during my training, due to me talking about dragons a lot when I was writing my stories and explained it to him. Anyway, I stopped breathing fire to see that Thanatos had blocked it with his wings, now black and charred, but then healed instantly.

Damn it…will he not stay down? My answer was in the form of a gust of wind from a slash of his sword that nearly cut me in two; I just barely managed to stop it by slicing upward, cutting the blast in two and diminishing its power greatly. But I left myself wide open for a counter by Thanatos. I barely managed to dodge the swing and shot my Lightning Gun at his chest, sending him into the air.

I looked to see if I got him…unfortunately a quick flip and unfolded wings later showed there was a slight scar on his chest from my attack, but it soon healed instantly as well.

"Grrr, why won't you stay the fuck down?" I hollered and jumped, Soul Calibur's power made me feel like I had grown wings (in actuality, I did have two crystalline wings on my back but I was too busy to focus) and we clashed in mid-air.

* * *

"I must admit, this fight is very interesting," Algol said as he watched the two halves fight each other in the air.

"Yes, soon they'll reach their limits, that's when we'll go for the kill," Malgreed said.

"Agreed…wait, where are the others he was with?" Algol asked. Malgreed's eyes widened with realization.

"Shit…" He said and turned to stare down Joseph and the rest of the gang.

"Ah, that's where they were…" Algol said.

"So you finally show up, I must admit I never suspected you'd get an army to counteract Thanatos's Nightmare beast army so easily…still, we can make more to replace those we lost," Malgreed said as he looked down the tower.

"It's over Malgreed…" Sosuke said as he pulled out his katana.

Malgreed chuckled darkly as he readied his scythe, "Oh it will be…for the human race…" he said.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Yun-Seong asked him.

"You'll see soon enough…" he said as he ran towards the group, but Sosuke blocked the attack and pushed him back.

"He's mine, you get Algol!" Sosuke said as he charged at Malgreed. Joseph and the others nodded as they looked at the former Hero King, sitting on his throne with one hand on his cheek.

"Hmm, I have been watching you all fight, and I am very impressed with your skills," he said as he rose from the throne and into the air. "Let's see if you're as strong as I was made to believe!" he said and flew straight towards them, both his arms now empowered by the fragments of the soul swords he remembered as they were in his human years.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I slashed once more at Thanatos's chest, searing his boy with the white hot flames of Soul Calibur, and still he wouldn't die. I yelled and slashed repeatedly at Thanatos, who blocked some of the attacks. Was Soul Edge feeding him power? Suddenly Thanatos grabbed my arm and flung me to the side of the tower, causing me to send into the room I crashed into.

I groaned and spat some blood, then saw Thanatos fly towards me. I managed to dodge him, then grabbed his tail and flung him upwards, causing him to flying into the ceiling and out the top of the tower, which I followed him to. I reached the top and discovered Sosuke fighting Malgreed and everyone else fighting Algol, who was currently beating my team mates.

I had to save them, but Thanatos suddenly shooting a fire-blast after fire-blast at me was preventing me from saving them…and severely pissing me off. I got my arm ready and shot a fire-blast, and then a lightning bullet and a wind slash attack. The flames were sliced by Thanatos, but the bullet and wind slash were, in Pokémon terms, _"its SUPER effective!"_ as they would say it.

Thanatos was hunched over, blood coming out of his scars and covered in bruises, Soul Edge's eye glowing weakly, looks like they're out of juice…I think they did at least.

"**No…I am not…I will NOT lose to you!"** Thanatos yelled. He was suddenly surrounded by a red aura as the eye of Soul Edge burned brightly. It took me a second to realize he was preparing to use this as a last-ditch effort to end my life and that of Soul Claibur…

Well? Why not fight fire with fire?

I did the same thing Thanatos did, only my aura was blue and the gem in Soul Calibur was glowing blue as well. We both stared at each other, and then charged at Thanatos, with my darker half doing the same.

* * *

"Algol!" Malgreed called when he saw the two boys about to charge at each other. Algol blocked an attack by Joseph as their blade were grinding against each other's and saw, immediately kicking him away as the two ran towards the boys.

"Stop them!" Zach yelled. Sosuke and Joseph both shot a twin lightning blast at the two men, unfortunately Algol managed to dodge it and Malgreed ducked before it could hit him.

"**NO!"** Everyone yelled. They all couldn't help but watch as Mark and Thanatos clashed blades and the two men got caught in the middle of it, suddenly there was a dome of light surrounding the four, which expanded for a bit, then retracted into a small orb, then soon engulfed everything, bathing all, including the tower and the ground and anyone in the vicinity (the entire tower and the surrounding land), in a bright light.

* * *

**With a bright flash of light, everyone is engulfed in the conflict. But what has become of them? Stay tuned to find out, and R&R plz**


	35. The God of the World

**Alright, here iis the long awaited chapter everyone's dying to read! I had listened to many soundtracks when writing this so the first is from the Full Metal ALchemist Brotherhood OST 3 "The Awakening" I don't own any of the songs! anyway, enjoy! And the music starts when u see the '*' sign.**

* * *

**Chapter 34: The God of the New World**

**In the Present…**

The rumbling from an earthquake could be felt all around the world, the people were wondering what was going on and were frightened with police and officials trying to calm them down. Suddenly a bright light emanated from the ocean, then it shot into the air and everything was engulfed in the bright light.

When it faded, helicopters and news crews in them were flying to where it originated, there was a large tower in the midst of a large, frozen wasteland, the ground was covered in frozen chunks with some chucks of the earth rising and forming spikes, and the water around the mass was starting to freeze over and create more chunks and landmasses of ice.

"What the hell?" someone asked when the helicopter was flying over and showing the Wolfkrone army all unconscious.

"Wait, look, up at the top!" one of the news crew called out and pointed to the apex of the tower, which the helicopter flew up to investigate. When they got to the top, they found Joseph and the others all knocked out.

"Kids…wait…what is _that_?" someone pointed to the figure sitting on the throne in front of the kids.

* * *

Joseph and the others started to wake up after the initial shock of what happened to them.

"O-ooh….is everyone alright?" he asked them. A few grunts and "I'm ok" were the response of the others.

"What happened?" Talim asked softly.

"Mark and Thanatos clashed and Algol and Malgreed dove into the explosion…but…where are we?" Ivy asked. When they heard the sound of helicopters flying around them, Joseph and Zach realized where they were.

"We're in our world!" the two said. While the others were surprised by the news, Talim soon became worried.

"Wait, what happened to Mark?" she asked. They looked around for any sign of their friend, but a disembodied chuckle caused them all to look forward, and most of them gasped at what they saw.

*"_**You've all done well…my most loyal fools…"**_ the voice said as the being stepped off the throne. The figure was a large, dominant man…well; he was actually tall and has a slim muscular build. He was wearing what looked like a khaki colored robe/jacket with feathers adjourned on the rims. His pants were long and khaki colored with feather at the rim too, on his back were two pairs of metallic looking wings, similar to Algol's, only the wings had scales and membrane in-between them as well, not to mention a draconic looking tail and talons.

The man's skin was a sickly combination of pale and tanned skin, but it was also young, smooth as well. The man's hair was black with a mix of white highlights and all spiked up and with dreadlocks (how this is possible is beyond me) and his eyes were glowing, but the iris could be seen as a gold color with the pupils being slits.

"_**I thank you from the bottom of my…or rather, **_our_** heart, that you were able to bring back the Ultima Sword: Broken Destiny"**_ the man said as he lifted up a sword for all to see. The sword was a combination of soul Edge and Soul Calibur. It has the hilt of Soul Edge, but the handle was crystalline like Soul Calibur with a jewel in it that had a blue light emanating from it with the rest of the blade being made of a red metal with glowing runes that looked to be covered in ice up to the tip.

"So…that's the sword…Broken Destiny…" Sosuke said with a shudder from even saying the name.

"Whoever wields the Broken Destiny sword shall bear the powers of a God…" Joseph finished.

"_**That is correct, and I must thank you all for helping me forge this weapon, for with it, I shall become the God of this New World…"**_ the man said as he pointed the sword upward.

"Are…you Algol? Or Malgreed?" Kilik asked.

"_**I am them, I am also Mark and Thanatos, so…I believe an appropriate name would be Malatos, the God of the World,"**_ Malatos said as he raised his arms to the sky.

"Just because you wield a fancy sword doesn't make you god!" Yun-Seong yelled. Malatos smirked and snapped his fingers; suddenly there was a distant explosion and a flash of light, which quickly faded.

"What the hell was that?" Zach asked.

"_**Oh I got rid of a new problem that was arising, remember how North Korea had shelled that South Korean island?"**_ Malatos asked.

"You didn't…" Joseph began.

"You destroyed North Korea?" Zach asked with shock.

"_**Yep!"**_ Malatos said and grinned the same way Mark did, as if mocking him.

"You're sick…" Joseph said.

"_**Tch, you know we were going to go to war with them, I'm just getting rid of the competition…now…for some others,"**_ Malatos said as he sat on his throne with a map of the world (like the Map in Fable 3) before him and looked.

"What are you doing?" Sosuke asked.

"_**Doing my job…"**_ Malatos said and had his hand and waved it over the map. They looked and watched as two places on the map were engulfed in life, and the real-life locations were too.

"What are you doing?" Joseph asked.

"_**Got rid of some problems for you humans...you should thank me," **_Malatos said.

"Wait…why are you doing this?" Zach asked.

"_**Well for one: you humans are so slow; you could've just easily nuked them or sent the air force in, instead you sent your ground troops in for their deaths…and second: …they were outdated and old…"**_ Malatos said in a bored tone.

"Outdated…old…you think that's what they were? I mean, from what Mark told me they'r ebad but they're still human!" Talim yelled at the "God".

"_**Heh…you should know that they were nothing more than pawns…it's true they were human, but your government could've easily dealt a swift and harsh blow to them early on with a few carpet bombs…then again he wanted the war to continue…"**_ Malatos muttered the last part but everyone heard it clear as day.

"Wait…who's 'he'?" Joseph asked.

"_**Heh…the real ruler of this world…all your leaders are just figure heads to mask our leader's true agendas for your race…but that's a story for another time…"**_ Malatos said. _**"You pests think you can stop me? Alright then…"**_ he started to get up, gripping Broken Destiny's handle and pointed it at them.

"_**Try it…try and defeat me…"**_ the god grinned.

"We will…" Joseph said as everyone unsheathed their weapons. The god chuckled, then sheathed Broken Destiny and turned his back to them.

"_**Nah…too easy…how about this: Defeat my guardian and head to my throne and I will fight you,"**_ Malatos said.

"Where, I don't see it?" Yun-Seong asked, looking around for the guardian.

* * *

**Ok, Next song is from the Mabinogi OST "G11 Final Boss: Uroboros", i don't own this song at all!**

* * *

* A snap of the fingers and soon a large, shadowy beast appeared before everyone, it bore the appearance of a three-headed dog with one head's eyes glowing red, another's was blue and the last was green. The Cerberus looked at the group as it snarled and showed it fangs, saliva dripping from its mouth as it growled with anticipation.

"Go for it boy…" Malatos said and snapped his fingers before shedding his wings and flying into the air. The Cerberus roared, shaking everything, and soon charged at the group, who all got ready to face the beast.

* * *

**Now Armed with the Broken Destiny, cna Joseph and the remainder of the team beta Malatos and the Cerberus? Stay tuned...oh and to any Norht Koreans, i'm sorry for blowing up your country..but seriously, shellign that South Korean Island wasn't cool at all...And about what Malatos is saying, its actually what i feel our country SHOULD'VE done in the first place...but it was their choice to do this and i respect that...andyway R&R plz!**


	36. Dark Beast within

**And now, without further adieu, here is chapter 35, and also the christmas vacation is coming now so i'll probably be busy...not! Oh and also i got a new laptop a ASUS vers. Yes! Anyway, enjoy the chappie.**

* * *

**Chapter 35: Dark Beast Within**

_Mark's POV_

I started to come to after the initial blinding light, when I did, I saw myself on the throne looking at everyone…but…it wasn't me in control…I looked around my surroundings (inside the soul…I think) and it looked…well…it looked a lot like Falias, the abandoned City of the Gods from Mabinogi, an MMORPG I play **(speaking the truth here, look it up sometime)** only…it looked more darker…grittier…evil.

I looked around, noticing that Thanatos wasn't here, "Thanatos? Where are you?" I called.

"_I'm right here…" _Thanatos's voice said.

"Where?"

"_Inside you, moron!"_

"Oh…but how?"

"_Someone when we clashed we became one again…not to mention that Algol and Malgreed are in control now,"_ Thanatos explained.

"Crud…" I muttered. I looked at Algol and Malgreed, the latter wielded Broken Destiny; the other stood beside him…wow…weird twist of fates huh? Anyway, I looked at Algol, well he got the power he wanted…yet he seemed…saddened…bored.

Malgreed was now looking at something on the map, and then snapped his fingers, as a flash occurred. "Well, there goes that dirt poor of a state…" Malgreed mumbled. I couldn't tell if he was referring to Texas or something else entirely.

"Malgreed!" I called to him. The two looked at me as Malgreed adjusted his position in his seat,

"Well well, it appears that you still have some sentience even after the fusion," Malgreed smirked when he said those words.

"Malgreed…before we fight, I wanted to ask you something…" I began. Malgreed looked at me questioningly. "Before…you mentioned someone who wanted the war to continue…who were you referring to?" I asked.

Malgreed smirked when I asked that, like he was hiding some dark secret….and I bet he was too. "You want to know the truth huh?" Malgreed asked and chuckled again, "Alright…I'll tell you…" Malgreed snickered and grinned even more, like he was insane…which would make tons of scent, "I'll tell you _everything…_" Malgreed seemed to hiss at that last statement.

* * *

Meanwhile, Joseph and the rest of the team were fighting the Cerberus as it launched a wind attack, a lightning attack and a fire attack from each of its mouths.

"Damn it, can nothing hurt this thing?" Yun-Seong yelled as he tried to attack the monster and failed.

"It has all of Mark's elements, plus darkness…god only know what could've made it," Kilik said to Yun-Seong.

"Less talk, more killing!" Zach yelled. They all charged at the Cerberus, who launched a bolt of lightning from its mouth, causing an explosion to occur. Each of the heads growled, waiting for the smoke to clear, when it did, the gang wasn't there. The red eyed head looked around for them, with the green eye barking. The body turned in time to get a good kick in the red eye's face, causing it to whine and step back.

"Now, while its disoriented!" Joseph called. The others soon all charged, Ivy swung Valentine at its right head and the sword wrapped around its neck. The head tried to tug back to get the sword away from its neck, but the metal tightened around it even more. The middle head tried to free its brother, but it soon got kicked in the face by Yun-Seong.

The Cerberus skidded back, but before it could move, Joseph quickly encased the foot of the Cerberus in earth, preventing it from moving. The Cerberus quickly shot elemental blasts at the group to try to stop them from attacking, from the speed of the attacks, it looked desperate to kill them off. Talim and Mi-na charged and jumped, attacking the heads with their weapons, with Cassandra attacking the head Ivy was holding down with Xianghua.

While the girls attacked, the guys who can use elements (mainly Joseph and Sosuke) attacked with their elemental attacks, but they didn't do anything.

"Guess we got to use that move…" Joseph said.

"You nuts?" Sosuke asked him.

"We got no choice!" Joseph said. Sosuke nodded and concentrated hard, as did Joseph. Suddenly the lightning in Sosuke's hands started to travel along his body and the earth started to travel up Joseph's body as well. Soon Sosuke was covered in armor made of lightning and Joseph was the same but in Earth. The two charged at the Cerberus, with the three headed dog creature launching a combined attack to try to stop them.

An explosion occurred, but the two men were still charging, Sosuke jumped into the air and Joseph got his sword ready. The two soon attacked at the same time, casing a large explosion that engulfed everything. When it faded, everyone watched as the Cerberus was writing violently in pain, the lightning head fell off, then the wind, finally the fire head let out a loud roar of pain and then collapsed, the red eyes soon went dim, signifying it was dead, then it soon disintegrated and the mist…or whatever remained, flew upward to the sky.

"Where's it going?" Xianghua asked.

"To where we need to go…" an old voice rasped. Everyone looked as Elder E appeared, it looked like he just arrived too, he was panting a bit as he used his staff to walk.

"In the sky?" Kilik asked.

"Yes…to a plane of existence that I haven't seen in years…" E said.

"Hold on…just _what_ are you?" Seong Mi-na asked him.

E turned to her and sighed, "I…am not from here…I am from beyond the stars of this world…I was sent here years ago when word reached my people of a weapon that could end everything in existence. I knew it was the Broken Destiny, and I knew who Malgreed was the whole time too. You see children, that sword is the only thing capable to destroying the Gods, and I was sent to destroy it…but I never thought it would happen so soon…" E explained.

"There is a war coming…between good and evil…a monster is asleep here…and if their plan goes as it intended to be…it's over for humanity…" E said sternly.

"Well…then we got to destroy Broken Destiny" Ivy said.

"Come with me…" E said. He lifted his hand and had his palm out, suddenly two circles appeared, a large one as an outer ring and a small one as a middle. The rings expanded and soon a portal appeared, "Come, quickly!" E said as he ran on ahead. The other followed him into the light, not prepared for what would happen next.

* * *

Malatos gasped when he felt the Cerberus return into his body, **"No…they beat him…and are on their way here…"** he said as he got up and looked at the map, walking around it.

"**This world…this Earth…these people…they will either bow before me or die…this is my world…this is my Earth…and I would rather see it burn to ashes around me…than let that abomination take it over…"** he muttered.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I stood there, eye widened with shock by what Malgreed just told me…I…I didn't want to believe it…

"No…y-you're lying! T-There's no way that's true!" I said.

"It is true! Everything you know is a lie!" Malgreed yelled at me. That last comment made me smirk, but what Malgreed told me…I looked at Algol and he seemed…passive about this, I don't know what's going on through his head right now but…what if he knew the truth the whole time about Earth but never told us?

"Malgreed…tell me something: Was this why you need the sword?" I asked him.

"Yes, with this sword I can change the world, you humans try to desperately change it but you're so slow doing it. With Broken Destiny I can be able to accelerate and end conflicts in moments, you yourself said you were tired of how these humans don't act quick enough, so with this sword I'll just take matters into my own hands." Malgreed said nonchalantly.

"Do you hate humanity?" I asked him.

"…not really…but...the master does…" Malgreed said that softly.

"Why do you serve him then?"

"We don't have a choice! If you ever saw him you'd realize why we can never leave!" Malgreed yelled, he seemed scared for some reason…could that be why he was acting like this?

"…Whatever the reason, I won't let you hurt my friends Malgreed," I said and pulled out Phoenix from its scabbard.

"Not even after what I told you…fine, you can go die with the humans for all I care…but the sword is MINE!" Malgreed flashed the sword at me when he said 'mine'.

"Not anymore it's not," I said with a grin and charged at him.

* * *

**The duel amongst the gods has begun, with secrets unknown being revealed, will anyone believe what is true and what is fake? Next time on Soul Calibur: Conflict of Souls: **

**Chapter 36: To Challenge the Gods**

**Step forth mortal, do you believe you can defeat a God?**


	37. To challenge the Gods

**And now, here is chapter 36 of the fanfic! and due to my Microsoft Word being out of commission, i'll have to write from the Document Manager here. Anyway, enjoy! oh and the theme that wil start off this chapter is "Field Falias" OST from Mabinogi, look at it on Youtube sometime.**

* * *

**Chapter 36: To Challenge the Gods**

Once E and the group stepped through the portal, the group all gasped (minus E) when they saw the area they had now entered. *They saw a large lithograph in the middle of a large circular area. The entirety of the area was pure snow white, there were pillars around the entire area as well as a cliff-like formation in the distance. There was also strange floating stones and small miniature versions of the Stonehenge.

"Whoa…" they all said with awe.

"Falias…I never thought I'd be here again…" E muttered as he stepped forward to the center of the area.

"What is this place?" Talim asked.

"Falias…the long abandoned City of the Gods…Mark had told me of that game _Mabinogi_ I believe it was called, but when he mentioned Falias I was surprised you managed to actually get an almost perfect design of this place in the game," E stated.

"Wait, you're saying Nexon actually depicted the city from a game from what actually existed?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, but enough of this, we need to get to Malatos before he absorbs too much of the sword's power," E stated.

"Is that happens we're dead?" Zach asked him.

"In more ways than one…" E muttered. They reached the lithograph and looked around for any sign of Malatos, or at least his soul signature's energy. E looked around and walked as well, trying to find anything they could use to find Malatos. He noticed that one of the mini-Stonehenges was broken.

"Hmm…" he went to the Stonehenge and eyed it, it seemed that there was a way to fix it. E placed his hand on it an felt a surge of power emanate through it and sensed Malatos's soul energy from one of the portals nearby.

"Found him…and this little thing is the key to reaching him," E said with a smirk on his grizzled face.

"What do you mean?" Sosuke asked as he and the others got to E. Talim put a hand on the Stonehenge and gasped a bit.

"I understand…we need to repair this to let him out," Talim said.

"You mean Malatos?" Mi-na asked. The wind priestess nodded and looked at the fragment of the Stonehenge, then picked it up and put it on the Stonehenge. It soon managed to become one with the relic.

"That was easy…" Yun Seong said. Unfortunately soon a bunch of creature looking like sphinxes but all white like the floor soon appeared and crawled towards them.

"Aonbarrs…never thought I'd see these guys here…Malatos must be using them to stop us from reaching him," E stated as he pulled out his staff. The others pulled out their own weapons as the Aonbarrs charged at them.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

I skidded away from Malgreed, panting from the failed charge that I did earlier, Malgreed just sat there all high and mighty on his throne.

"Is that all?" he asked, boredom in his eyes as he looked at me.

And unfortunately for him…that was it…I didn't have any ideas. I should've mentioned that the sword was interfering with my elemental abilities…in other words, I can't use my powers. I tried to think of something I could use to beat while, but Malgreed was doing something and saying something in…I think it was Chinese.

Hmm…maybe he's trying to do something with China…hard to tell what he was saying.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Getting rid of some competition…" Malgreed muttered.

"China?" I asked him.

"Not really…well only until they go democratic, I'm basically giving the World Leaders at least twenty minutes for them to bow to me…" Malgreed said.

"You're so sick…" I growled at him.

"No I'm just human…" Malgreed smirked.

"Malgreed…why must you do this to these humans?" Algol asked.

"You heard what I said, you know why them must be destroyed!" Malgreed yelled.

"I only did this so I could get a body! Not to destroy humanity!" Algol stated. I was just watching these two bicker at each other, it was really entertaining actually, heheh.

Algol drew his swords…or at least got into his stance when he goes into battle, and flew at Malgreed. Malgreed replied to that with getting the sword up and blocking Algol like he was nothing.

"That sword is giving him more power than I thought…he must've been absorbing it while we've been distracted," Algol said.

"Probably…what do you say? Team up?" I asked him.

"I thought you'd never say that…" Algol said, I nodded and we charged at Malgreed together.

* * *

Joseph and the others panted as the last Aonbarr fell and the Stonehenge they worked on was complete, having to do this repeatedly until they were all fixed, the group panted from having to beat Falias's "guard dogs" as Zach called them. As they had been fixing the Stonehenges, they felt a power starting to grow, and they knew it was Broken Destiny and Malatos, but it kept growing, which confused them.

"That sword couldn't have that much power in it…could it?" Xianghua asked aloud. Talim groaned, she sensed the wind's cries, it was the sword, when it was created a cry she heard, she had to destroy the sword, and free Mark too from its influence.

"It's Mark…he's trying to fight the sword's power and Malgreed…and it seems Algol is joining him to fight Malgreed," Talim said.

"You figured all that out?" Joseph asked her.

"Yes…the wind…its crying in pain from the sword…we need to destroy it for good," Talim said. No one could argue with that, and since they got the last Stonehenge done, they saw a portal north of the lithograph on a Stonehenge.

"Well, looks like we got a way to him…" Kilik said as they looked at the swirling portal before them. E stepped in first, and slowly everyone else stepped in. They soon arrived at a large, circular area with pillars around it and a large mass of pillars in the shape of a throne, with Malatos having one knee bended and the Broken Destiny floating before him, glowing and pulsing.

* * *

**And here is where the most badass song starts playing, its from Mabinogi as well and its called "Generation 12 Mainstream Final Boss, Nuadha" look up 'mabinogi nuadha boss theme' or something like that on Youtube.**

* * *

*Malatos suddenly opened his eyes and Broken Destiny stopped glowing and flew into his hands as he unbended his knee and got up.

_**"So...you actually managed to get here, i'm impressed...but its over you know, in a few minutes i will have this world in my hands, then..the revolution will begin,"**_ Malatos said.

"You won't have this world, until yu pry it from my cold dead hands!" E yelled.

**_"E...you know that the Dark One has poisoned these mortals and you stilld efend them...then...you will DIE with them,"_** Malatos said as his wings caused him to fly upward and stared them down.

* * *

**Malatos now goes into battle! Mortals against a God! Who shall win? Stay tuned! R&R plz! Oh and i don't own Falias or Mabinogi, they belong to Nexon, but as for flaias being the city of the gods, you'll see in another story ^^**


	38. Final Battle part 1 vs Malatos

**Ok, now here starts the series of final battle chapters, oh and this story spiritually ties in with another story i'm doing now. Anyway, enjoy and that boss theme i had playing before "The Star Above Falias, Final Boss: Nuadha" is starting...right...NOW!**

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**Chapter 37: The Final Battle Part 1 (vs. Malatos)**

*Malatos hovered in the air above E and the others, then raised his hand and summoned a spear of lightning, then smirked and shot it at the group. They barely dodged it in time for it to hit the ground...but they were sent back in the explosion that was caused by the spear exploding after hitting the ground.

"Holy shit..." Yun-Seong said seeing the crater the blast made.

"What power..." Kilik muttered.

_**"That's not all I possess..."**_ Malatos said and snapped his fingers. Suddenly a bunch of columns of flames appears from the ground, trying to burn the group. Joseph and Sosuke managed to dodge the columns but got some slight burns, as did everyone else.

"These flames are so hot...like the anger in Mark's flames...could he be using his anger to fuel them?" Ivy wondered.

_**"Is that all?" **_Malatos asked in a bored tone.

"We're just getting started!" Joseph yelled and ran, swinging Brionac at the "God". Malatos just blocked it with Broken Destiny and then punched Joseph in the gut, the young man gagged as he crumbled to the ground, then was kicked out of the way.

_**"Next..." **_Malatos called out in a bored tone. Kilik and E both charged and swung their staves at Malatos, but unfortunately he dodged them both, then kicked the staves up and swung one as it landed into Kilik's gut, sending him spiraling and tried the same with E. However the old man dodged it and managed to break the staff out of Malatos's hands, E then swung his staff upward to try and get rid of the sword, but Malatos stopped it with his hand, yanked it away and swept it under his feet, E slipped and fell and looked up to see Malatos with the sword, about to stab him. E tried to get up but the God slammed his foot down on his chest, preventing him from trying to escape.

_**"Say your prayers, old man"**_ Malatos sneered as he prepared to stab E.

Before he could stab the elder, he heard the sound of something coming towards him, he turned and suddenly saw a bolt of lightning in yellow and red combined shot at him. Malatos raise Broken Destiny in defense, the blast hit the sword but sent the God flying across the room, his wings managed to slow down the blast and got him airborne. Malatos slashed the sword with a current of wind in an arc coming towards the group, the group managed to dodge it as it left a mark on the ground on impact.

"How strong is this guy?" Xianghua shouted as she got up.

"Less talk, more hitting!" E stated as he ran with the others to attack Malatos. Malatos cracked his knuckles as he gathered energy in his hand, he smirked as the group neared him, then he punched the ground, sending a blast of energy that sent everyone flying. Malatos smirked as he looked at the group on the ground,

_**"Pathetic...all of you..."**_ he then turned to the large mirror which was broadcasting to the world. _**"You see? Even your mightiest have fallen to my sword! Why resist? Join me, and I will correct all that you have done to yourselves and your planet,"**_ Malatos said to the mirror. He then went to where his throne was as it rose from the ground and he sat on it. He looked at the unconscious members of the group and smirked, they couldn't even hurt him at all.

_**"Poor pathetic humans...that's what happens when you try to fight a god..."**_ Malatos said simply. He looked at Broken Destiny to see if there were any scratches or anything, that's when he noticed that the gem was glowing. He looked at it, then the gem began to glow brighter, almost blinding him. He felt a pain from his body, like he was being ripped apart by something.

When the light had faded, Malatos was panting, holding onto the handle of the sword, sweat dripping down his face.

"_**W-What?"**_ Malatos gasped. He lifted his head and saw Mark before him, _**"H-How'd you escape!"**_ he yelled at the boy. Mark turned his head slightly and smirked, recalling the memory from a few minutes ago.

* * *

**Flashback**

**Mark's POV**

_Algol and I swung our swords at Malgreed, which be blocked and sent us back with a push of the sword. We had been fighting like this for god knows how long, and we had only gotten him off the throne to fight him fairly, but even still he wouldn't stay down. _

"_Damn it…we need a Plan B!" I yelled as I snapped my fingers, sending a torrent of flames at Malgreed, but he just negated it. _

"_I might have an idea, hold Malgreed off for me!" Algol said. I nodded and attacked Malgreed while Algol did his thing…why did that sound so wrong?_

_I shot more lightning and flame blasts at Malgreed, but the sword's power could negate the powers before it even hit him. How could we compete with a sword that negates our powers? I blocked Malgreed's attack as he started pressing down his sword on mine in an attempt to try and beat me. I felt my strength weakening, like the sword was draining me of my power to fuel its own as I was getting weaker and getting pushed back._

_I was growing scared, I thought the blade would overcome me, corrupt me…I…I was truly afraid for my life. I managed to jump away from Malgreed and quickly began to lay down fire, lightning and wind attacks at him. The sword kept negating the attacks, just how long until Algol finished whatever he was doing, I had no idea._

_Just as Malgreed was charging at me, it felt like something ripped the air in two as the wind picked up, I looked, or tried to, and saw a huge rift in the..well…hard to say really what was going on._

"_Mark! Go into the rift!" Algol called as he ran to me._

"_How'd the fuck did you do this?" I called him._

"_No time for this, just go!" Algol picked me up and threw me into the rift. When I went through the rift, it was a mix and blend of lights and colors, they were…very bright! Suddenly I felt myself land on hard floor and looked around, seeing myself in Falias, and the creature I was once a part of holding his chest in pain…_

**End Flashback**

* * *

"It's time we ended this…for good…" I said and pointed _Phoenix_ at him.

"Y…You think you can kill ME?" Malatos yelled as he tried to get up.

"You forget: I'm the _Soul_ that bound it together, without me, it's only a matter of time before you split…and your so called _Ultimate Sword_ isn't that ultimate, look," I smirked and pointed to the sword.

Malatos looked at it and gasped, he saw the crystals on the hilt were black and falling off and it had a darker color to it, the runes even dimmed a bit as it was glowing un an unhealthy yellow.

"W-What?" Malatos gasped, suddenly feeling more intense pain in his body. I stepped back and got a wall of fire around us just as a burst of energy caused the flames to go out and Malatos to yell out in pain, landing as he felt his power getting weak from losing part of himself.

"Heh, won't be long now…" I smirked. Malatos growled and jumped down from the edge of the 'arena' and into the clouds, I looked over the area, then heard moaning as everyone was waking up. I immediately went to Talim's side and held her up as she awoke. She mumbled something, I think my name, then she saw my face and suddenly her arms wrapped around me.

"Y-You're alright!" she said happily.

"Yeah…uh, hate to ruin the mood or anything, but that guy you just nearly died to is heading to the tower," I told her once she let go of me. Talim sighed, and I knew she just wanted this to all end, I held my hand on her shoulder and looked at her eyes, silently telling her that it would end soon. Talim nodded, as if agreeing with me.

The others started to wake up and get off the ground, noticing me they thought they succeeded, but I told them what happened and they looked over the edge as well as me.

"We got to get down there…" Joseph said. I took a couple of steps back, then ran forward and jumped, much to everyone's shock.

"Is he insane?" Xianghua hollered. Joseph jumped after Mark, as if attempting to get to his friend, E decided to take a safer route and opened a portal to the tower instead.

* * *

Malatos landed on the ice surrounding the tower with a large explosion of the impact, and the energy that was leaking out of his body. He knew that without Mark to bind the power together, that he would soon become corrupted by it and maybe even absorbed into the sword. He looked at the soldiers, who were trembling as they saw the god before them.

Malatos smirked and raised his hand as it started to glow red, when this happened, the soldiers began to gag and cough, with red trails coming from their foreheads to Malatos's hand. The god smirked as he felt their souls enter his body to join the many other souls trapped in him. But before Malatos could absorb any more souls, he felt something jab at his side.

He turned his head when he saw the lance that Hilde had, now embedded in his rib. He pulled out the lance from his side and threw it towards Hilde, who managed to catch it mid-air and placed it in its original position she had it on.

"_**Heh, Daddy's little girl thinks she can kill me?"**_ Malatos smirked as he glared at Hilde.

"Don't underestimate me you monster!" Hilde yelled and charged at him. Malatos smirked and readied Broken Destiny to counter her attack, suddenly a loud audible whistle was heard as Malatos looked up to see what it was. The god's eyes widened when he saw a missile flying towards him and he quickly slammed his fist on the ground, causing the ice to create a shield that took the missile's impact.

Once the smoke cleared, Malatos suddenly saw helicopters armed with rockets, and warships ranging from Aircraft Carriers to submarines with various country's flags emblazed on them, surrounding the whole tower.

"_**Heh, so that's your answer huh world? You'd rather face oblivion that serve under me?"**_ Malatos muttered. He then sensed something approaching from the tower and got ready, he turned to face it, but there wasn't anyone there, looking up he suddenly saw something..or _someone_ falling from the sky straight at him. At first he was confused as to what it was, but when there was a sudden burst of light he suddenly realized what was falling.

A bolt of lightning suddenly soared right at Malatos, who barely had time to block it with his sword, it managed to absorb some of the attack, but the remainder managed to paralyze him and caused the ice to crack from its impact. Malatos skidded from the surprise attack and shook it off, staring down at the person who shot him.

Soon Mark stepped out of the smoke, a cocky smirk on his face as he walked towards Malatos with his sword in his hands.

"Did ya miss me?" he asked with a grin on his face. "…Or did you think you could try and escape from me and my friends?" he asked as the others walked and stood beside Mark, all with weapons drawn.

"You believe you can kill a god?" Malatos shouted as he got himself ready.

"You're not a god! You're just someone with a pimped out sword pretending to be one!" Mark yelled and charged at him with his friends behind him.

* * *

**Now the final battle commenses! Can a God truely be beaten by a group of humans? Stay tuned to find out! R&R Plz!**


	39. Final Battle part 2 vs Malatos 2

**Heya everyone! Sorry for being late, i've had a lot going on lately at home, but i managed to get this up, anyway, I'm considering of uploading a DoA fic i'm working on sometime if i can, either that or my POP fanfic or my Ratchet/Ben10 fic, i need some help deciding ^^; So anyway, enjoy the chap ^^**

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**Chapter 38: The Final Battle Part 2 (vs. Malatos 2)**

The gang and I charged at Malatos, he had to be stopped here, otherwise all that we fought for, all the people we lost getting here, everything we hoped to achieve would be lost. I slashed _Phoenix_ at Malatos, who blocked it, then I snapped my fingers and sent a blast of hot flames at his face. Malatos skidded back from the burning and soon Sosuke and Joseph and I all did a triple Lightning blast…well, actually a four-way lightning blast when E joined in.

The combined blast managed to cause an explosion that sent Malatos flying, Joseph punched the ground, sending a blast that caused the icy ground below to crack like there was earthquake going on. Malatos had landed and saw the earth crumble below him, he jumped to try and evade it, but suddenly felt a blast of cold air on him that sent him crashing into the ground.

Malatos panted as he tried to regain his composure, but suddenly heard something falling from the sky and saw a ton of missiles falling towards him. A rain of explosions fell onto Malatos where he once stood as the flaming exhaust from the explosions caused a much bigger explosion to occur that engulfed the area in light and fire.

When it faded, there was a large crater where Malatos was and the ice had melted to show off the water below it, the ice melted during the rain of fire.

"Did they get him?" Kilik wondered as he and the group looked at the large hole in the ice.

"…there's something coming up!" I yelled and ran as far as I could from the hole. No sooner had I said that, something shot out of the water and through the ice, then landed onto the ground. Malatos was gasping, on his knees with the sword beside him.

"Do you give?" I asked and pointed my sword at him. Malatos growled and grabbed Broken Destiny and tried to slash at me, I jumped out of the way before that happened and looked at the once powerful god.

**"I…won't lose…to…a bunch of fucking worms!"** Malatos yelled and glared us down. I glared back, but then lowered my sword a bit, my mind having many things I wanted to ask him.

"Malatos…no…Malgreed…why do you hate humans so much?" I asked him in a calmer tone.

**"You humans…are parasites, you were only brought into this world through sheer luck! Other races inhabited this world before you and yet you think it's yours, it's not! This world belonged to many others who left here centuries ago! You humans think you're better than them when you have no idea of what's out there! You humans wouldn't have lasted if it weren't for us! We've long since tried to get rid of you for taking this place, you've turn it into a wasteland, you don't deserve mercy!" **Malatos yelled.

"Was that why you needed the sword?" Joseph asked him.

**"Yes, this sword acts as a beacon, various gods from all over will flock here once they sense its energy, and they will battle to the death for its power. This is our sin…our curse, and it's the key to ending this war for good," **Malatos said as he stared at the broken sword.

"War?" Kilik asked.

**"Yes…a war that has been going on for centuries…you humans are just tools for us, just like the other races the others have made…you didn't know? Your government doesn't want you to know for fear of them losing power, they want to keep you here, like dogs chained to their master's leash…" **Malatos said.

**"Why anyone would care for this hellhole I don't know…but all I know is that the gods you worshiped have left you…why serve those who abandoned you when you can serve a much greater power?"** Malatos asked as he stood up.

"What higher power?" Talim asked.

**"My master…once he has this sword, my master will be the strongest in history…if you join him, he'll offer you a special place in his inner circle…" **Malatos offered his hand to us, **"Well? What do you say?"** he asked.

I looked at the hand he offered, part of me tempted to do so…but…remembering all that we had to go through to get here…I stared at Malatos and smirked, "You want an answer, right? Well, here it is," I said and snapped my fingers, sending a blast of fire at him. Malatos slashed at it with his sword, a cold look on his face.

**"Fine…then you can join your race in extinction…" **Malatos then lifted his sword up slowly, **"Do you know why I want this sword? Its because of the soul inside it, these souls are the ones who died to the blade's power in its separate states"** Malatos explained as he held it up high.

**"I had wondered why a human couldn't wield its power…it would corrupt that person, turning them into a monster…but…if that's what it takes to finish you humans off…"** Malatos switched the sword's stance so it now was facing downward, **"I'll Take It!" **he yelled and stabbed himself with the sword.

I was stunned, really I was, he just stabbed himself with the sword, who knows what'll happen! I got my answer when the air felt electrified and the ground was shaking as well. The ice started cracking as the sword started to exhibit a large about of energy. Malatos grinned, then yelled out laughing as a dome of light surrounded him, which soon expanded to blind us all.

The last thing I remember was the light coming closer, then I got caught in it, but then I saw someone, it looked like someone trying to grab my hand. I tried to grab it back, then saw darkness surround me and I felt like I was falling, falling deeper into the abyss. I held out my hand weakly as the glowing light was fading from the advancing darkness, then shut my eyes, feeling drowsy.

_The Prince of Blades will be the one, whose hands will decide the fate of all..._

**

* * *

**

**What will happen to our friends now that Malatos has stabbed himself with Broken Destiny? And what was the cryptic threats he made earlier? will they truely happen? Stay tuned to find out! and R&R plz!**


	40. Final Battle part 3 vs Cerebus

**Sorry for the seriously long haitus on this story, but i've been busy with school, not to mention my DOA fanfic as well as other fanfics that im working on as well, but here is the chapter everyone has waited months for, and let me start this off with a song that i know people will love, for the last boss theme! Enjoy!**

* * *

**C****hapter 39: The Final Battle III (vs. Avatar of Annihilation, Cerebus) **

Once the light faded I started to open my eyes, the light blinding at first, but I got used to it after blinking a few times…wait…where am I? I took a look around and then noticed that the ground looked…well…the large crater was completely filled in, and the ice was shooting up into the sky to become spires and was accelerating at a fast rate across the ocean…wait, WHAT?

I got up, my heart pumping faster when I saw men from the Wolfkrone army, and the various armies around the world all unconscious…or dead from the blood stains everywhere. That's when I noticed the ground was raked with slashes like something primal had just came through here. Just as soon as I thought that, I felt an overwhelming presence and was on my knees from it.

It was…suffocating, I felt my breath choked up in my lungs from the power, what…what was this power? I felt a hand on my back and soon the pressure dissipated, causing me to get my breath again, now gasping and sweating like I had just swam a mile.

"Are you ok?" E asked me as he stared at me, I nodded and got up, still panting a bit.

"W-What the…fuck happened?" I gasped out, trying to get my legs to stand up.

"You were knocked out…Malatos stabbed himself with the sword, do you remember?" E asked me. I nodded once the memories began to fill my head of what had occurred moments ago.

"Yeah…what happened to Malatos?" I asked him as I checked on Talim and the other unconscious members of our team.

"Over there…" E pointed to where I saw a large cloud in the distance and the sounds of roaring were heard.

"What the…" I muttered and squinted my eyes to get a better look at it. It looked like a large winged monster tearing up the place. I heard Talim wake up and saw her eyes opening up, I smiled and helped her up, "Welcome back sleeping beauty" I smirked as the wind priestess got up, me holding her hand.

"Are you ok?" she asked me. I nodded and asked the same thing. She told me she was ok and then we helped out the others up and occasionally healed them. Once the team was 100% fixed, E directed us to where the monster was. Looking into the distance I could see the destruction it caused as we went towards it.

We got to the area where we saw a bunch of marines and Wolfkrone knights fighting together against something hidden in the smoke. One of the soldiers was suddenly flung into the air by something big, as soon as the smoke dissipated, I gasped when I looked at the monster that was before us.

* * *

**And here is the song that i have chosen for this fight, it's from the Persona 3 FES version, called "Darkness", for those who played the game, they should know why i chose this, now for the boss!**

* * *

*The monster was gigantic, it was pitch-black with leathery skin, two large bat-like wings that were unfurled now, its tail swished around as one of its head, which looked like a dragon/wolf creature's with large fangs and horns on its head with piercing red eyes. Once the smoke was gone I realized it had two more heads with one horn on top and the third had two horns that shot forward, the first head had red eyes, the middle one had blue and the last one had green eyes and had a silvery looking marking on its body.

I looked at where its stomach would be and grimaced when I saw that it looked like an open ribcage with some black gunk spilling out of it.

Looking at that monster made me think of two things, one: it kinda reminds me of Erebus from Persona 3: FES, and two: it was seriously ugly…could this be the true manifestation of the souls inside it?

"What in the name of Christ is that?" Joseph asked with stunned shock upon seeing that creature.

"It looks…it's a monster…" Sosuke muttered.

"I sense so much hatred…is…is this thing the true manifestation of humanity's hate and darkness?" Kilik wondered aloud as sweat dripped down his face. I looked at Talim and saw she was coughing and on her knees, a sense of fear filled my body as I helped her up.

"This wind…it reeks of so much evil…" she said weakly.

"Don't stress yourself, E, can you get Talim away from here?" I asked our master, he nodded and in an instant he was gone with her. When I saw her disappear I turned to the three headed abomination before us as it snapped its green-eyed head's jaws at us.

"Don't worry Fido, you'll get your meal soon…" I muttered to it. The three heads growled and glared at me, but I smirked, sure I was afraid, but after everything that had happened to me, I was used to it. I nudged my head, which to them pretty much was like an attack order for our group. They all nodded and charged at the creature, yelling out their war cries as the beast roared at us, as if accepting the challenge.

Kilik attacked the monster's blue-eyed head with his staff, followed by Seong-Mina, Yun-Seong and Xianghua, the attacks managed to scratch the face, but they were quickly healed and soon it let out a bright beam that caused an explosion in the distance, but also took down one of the ships.

"Shit…" I mumbled and shot some fire attacks at it. The red-eyed head opened its jaw and sucked it up, then shot it right back, only this time as a ball of blue fire. I barely managed to dodge it before it soared past me, yet the heat from it was seriously strong. I panted once I landed, and not only that but I was shaking, not from the ice, but from fear…this fire that thing launched at me…this feeling I got inside my stomach…it's…it's fear.

I shook my head, no, this isn't the time to be scared, I…well, we, had to kill this thing or the entire earth would be doomed. I charged again, this time with Sosuke, Joseph and Zach beside me, and we all launched our attacks at it. The combination of my fire attack, Sosuke's lightning bolt, Joseph's earth blast and Zach's attacks by combo with Joseph all hit the monster and an explosion occurred.

We looked at the giant cloud of dust as I looked up and saw a helicopter swoop past us, I barely managed to glimpse Elder E and Talim in it, then another copter with a news crew in it.

"Heh, guess we're gonna be heroes…" I smirked as I watched the camera crew film us on the copter and what was going on, I could imagine what the others were thinking watching this broadcast. Suddenly the ground shook as the monster rose up, shaking itself from the attack we launched at it.

"You've got to be kidding me!" I yelled as the monster roared. Suddenly the blue-eyed head opened its mouth and soon blasts of light emerged and scattered everywhere.

"INCOMING!" I yelled and ran as the lasers hit. Explosions everywhere dwarfed my senses as I ran to find cover amidst the barrage of lasers, my friends doing the same. I got behind cover and held m y head between my legs as the explosions rocked the world, literally. When the tremors faded I got up, seeing all the craters in the icy wilderness of the land, and I saw most of the ships were sinking and a jet crashed near my cover.

"Oh my god…" I muttered, stunned with the shock and awe of everything around me. I heard moaning and followed it to discover Joseph on the ground, as where the others, but they were disoriented from the sudden attack. I looked at the three-headed monster as it snarled right back at me, its six eyes staring at my own.

"Tell me one thing:…why the FUCK ARE YOU DOING THIS?" I hollered at the monster before me. The monster snarled and roared in my face, my eardrums nearly popping from its roar.

"_**BECAUSE I HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE!"**_ it yelled back. I was stunned when I heard it spoke…it…it sounded like something I would say.

"it…spoke…" I heard someone murmur.

"What do you mean?" I asked it.

"_**This world…you saw what was going to befall it soon! You know what's going to happen to it! So why the fuck are you trying to save this dead world?" **_the monster roared again and slammed its paw on me, causing the ground to crack and splinter. I coughed up blood as it held down on me in its giant paw, the nail gripping the ice below me, threatening to smash and drown me in the water if it kept it up.

"Because…you six-eyed fuck…" I smirked a bit as more blood began to seep though my teeth and fall down the corners of my face, the Cerberus/Erebus-look-alike cocking an eyebrow at me.

"This is our home!" I shouted with a confident smirk. The three heads all snarled at me, with the fire head's eyes glowing red.

"_**Then drown with them in darkness!"**_ it roared and smashed the ground below me.

* * *

Joseph started to regain conscience from what just occurred, but when he heard the shattering of glass he looked up and saw the three-headed dog monster smashing the ground and for a brief moment he saw his friend's katana fly amidst the chunks of ice in the air.

"Mark!" he yelled, causing a chain reaction of the others waking up and seeing the same thing, to their horror.

"No!" pretty much everyone hollered. The cracking of the ice subsided as chunks of it floated in the ocean as the beast looked at it.

"_**Heh, you call this place a home? Looks like a pile of shit to me…"**_ the beast mumbled. The wind head's ears lifted up as it saw Joseph fly at him, raising his sword to clash with it.

The dog-beast just grabbed it with its paw and let out a little chuckle, _**"You think you can beat me? Fool! I've bested your leader, no one is stronger than me!"**_ it roared and shot a blast of wind at Joseph. Joseph suddenly smirked as he held a hand over Brionac.

"Crush everything to bits, Brionac!" he yelled.

"_**Oh shit…"**_ the three heads all said as they were send back by a blast of earth power as Brionac began to undergo a transformation. Brionac soon began to turn into a combination of a spear and a sword, but it still looked to be able to be wielded by one or two hands.

Joseph smirked as he twirled Brionac a 260 circle, causing a bunch of spears made of the ice to rise up around him. With a swift flick of the wrist he shot the spears at the monster and the spears pierced its body. When the beast roared in pain, Sosuke jumped and launched a bolt of lightning at the spears, sending currents of electricity all over the monster's body.

Zach then punched the ground, sending a tremor that ripped the ground under it into cracks and caused the monster to fall into the water.

"That is what you get when you mess with us!" Joseph yelled at the crater Zach had made. The monster had nearly been sunk into the ocean, with its lower body already in it as the upper part tried to climb up.

"_**Grrr, why do you persist? You're nothing but nobodies, freaks, weirdos, insipid worms! No one wishes you to exist and yet you defy the odds and still live…so why won't you fucking die?"**_ the monster yelled.

The group looked at the monster as its words rang in their ears. Yeah they were nothing but strange people, but that's what bound them together, and Mark, he was the biggest freak of them all, and yet he still lived despite everything that happened to him. That's when it hit them, this monster, it wasn't a manifestation of humanity's hate.

It was a manifestation of Mark's hate.

Then all the events he did, all of this, it was for him to try and correct the world that they lived in to a more ideal place.

"Mark…so that's what you really think huh?" Joseph asked aloud as he looked at the dog-monster.

"I guess this is the extent of his madness and hate…" Sosuke muttered.

"Come on guys…let's help him out," Joseph said as he went to the monster. Suddenly another explosion that caused water to rise into the air rocked the place as something flew out of the ocean and then landed in front of the gang.

"Sorry guys, but I can handle this myself," Mark said as he propped his katana on his shoulder with a smirk, drenched in ice cold water and his hair matted to his head.

"Again with the epic introductions!" Zach complained.

"Oh fuck you man, I was sent to the near bottom of the fucking ocean, have a heart, I nearly drowned down there!" Mark's voice rose as he stated the obvious.

"How did you get out anyway?" Joseph asked his friend.

"It wasn't easy…" was all Mark could say as he snapped his fingers and in a second he had gotten dried off. Before they could ask further Talim suddenly ran and glomped him, holding on tightly due to the possible worry she felt. Needless to say everyone laughed at this, as did Mark and Talim. After a few minutes of laughing, they looked at the hole in the ice that the monster fell from.

"Do you think that it's dead?" Cassandra asked, a tiny hint of worry in her tone.

"Gotta be, no way it'd survive that…" Zach stated.

"then I guess we won!" Yun Seong stated optimistically.

"…No…we didn't…" Mark stated coldly.

* * *

_Mark's POV_

"Wait, what do you mean we didn't? we just kicked its ass!" Joseph said.

"…You guys sensed it too didn't you?" I asked as I walked towards the hole, "That thing…was my own darkness personified, so as long as I live, it can't die…" I turned my back to them, my head lowered, but I smirked regardless, "Right…Cerebus?" I asked as the three-headed monster looked at me.

"…**You…acknowledge me?"** it asked with a curious look in its eyes.

"Yep…you are me…and I am you…we're one creature…I didn't want to accept you before…because you were something I didn't want to be…but…now, after everything…I might as well as accept who I am," I shrugged and dug my hands into my pocket.

"…**That…was all I wished…acceptance…"** Cerebus said as its eyes stopped glowing, no longer having a menacing presence about it. I smirked a bit, eyes still closed, as the beast soon became its flame self and entered my body.

Searing pain erupted from my back as I felt something burning itself onto my back, I gasped, sweated, and panted, once it was done.

The others watched Cerebus entering their friend's body in the same flames that it was originally covered in. Talim immediately ran to Mark and began to heal his back, discovering a large tattoo in the intricate design of a wolf's head on his back before disappearing.

"um…when did you get that tattoo?" Joseph asked after he saw it.

"It's always been there…" Mark said as he got up, "Just…never appeared until now," he scratched his back a little.

"Wait, what about Malgreed?" Zach asked. Speak of the devil, the man who had been a god for a total of…two hours, was limping before the group.

"Well, look at the almighty 'God of the World' now," Yun Seong said with a smirk on his face.

"Heh…you…you think this is over? Even without that beast I am still strong!" Malgreed said as he readied his scythe.

"Why won't you just die already?" Mark yelled and ran towards him, katana ready to finish him off. However before anyone could attack, a shadowy image appeared over them all, it looked human, yet at the same time a dark presence forced everyone on their knees, all of them experiencing a feeling of pure terror.

"Y-You?" Malgreed asked as the creature suddenly enveloped itself over Malgreed. The horrifying sound of metal ripping through a body rang in the air, as well as a awful smell. Once the darkness was gone, all that was left was the monocle that showed it was Malgreed who was there a moment ago.

"_**I must admit, you children did well in weakening him…then again, he was human…"**_ a dark, rumbling voice came from the creature.

"W-what…are you?" Joseph asked, stunned by what just happened.

"_**I am…what you may call a 'monster', I am also 'a demon' or perhaps 'The Devil' or perhaps your darkness made into a physical form…but sometimes I think of myself as…a Patriot"**_ the monster said.

"Patriot…" Mark mumbled under his breath.

"_**Yes, I must thank you all for getting rid of that nuisance of a sword…even if it was just a fake,"**_ Patriot stated.

"A fake?" everyone yelled.

"_**Yep, though it's still strong, not like the original though…but good work…maybe this world has more to offer than just a haven for universal criminals…"**_ Patriot muttered.

"Wait, what?" Mark asked it.

"_**Sorry, you're too young to know, but we will meet again child…count on it"**_ Patriot stated as it looked at Mark with its cold red eyes before suddenly disappearing.

"'we will meet again…' Mark, what did he mean when he told you that?" Kilik asked him.

"Don't ask me, I never met him!" the teen stated.

"Well, Malgreed is gone, so I guess this means we really did win, right?" Yun Seong suggested. It took a minute for those words to sink in, but soon the group erupted in cheers, as did the men and women who helped them defeat Cerebus and Malgreed to an extent.

"Excellent work, all of you, the sword is gone as is Malgreed, I couldn't be happier," E said as he hugged his apprentices and their friends.

"So…what happens now?" Kilik asked the elder.

"Well, that depends on your choosing, for Mark and the ones who came to the past by Malgreed's intervention, they can return to their normal lives…" E stated. Talim was taken aback by this as she looked at Mark, who was staring at Malgreed's monocle.

'He…can go back…but…that means he'll…' Talim began to think, however E's next words broke through her train of thought.

"However, if they wish, they may stay in the past, and their friends who died because of Malgreed may join them," E finished. The group looked at each other, Mark looked at the monocle for a bit longer, as if pondering something.

"Mark?" Talim asked, holding her hand gently on the hand that held the monocle.

"Stay here in this time or head in the past…that's a no brainer, of course I'll stay!" Mark said as he tossed the monocle away into the water. Talim's heart sank, she knew that he couldn't stay from where he belonged.

"Talim, where are you going? Oh did you think I was going to stay here in the future? What did you think I am, a retard? Of course I'll stay with you and the others Talim" Mark grinned as he said that. Talim's face lit up and soon she threw her arms around him and kissed him deeply, earning a few 'awws' from the girls of the group.

"Now this is starting to become a happy ending," Joseph said as he watched the little display of affection. Mark stopped kissing Talim and held her hand, smiling and staring into her eyes.

"come on guys, let's go home," Mark said.

"Hey! Don't you forget us!" a familiar voice yelled. The group looked and Zach, Mark and Joseph smiled happily, seeing their friend Frankie, Tom and Scott all fine and not hurt at all.

"Guys!" Mark yelled as he ran towards his friends.

"Glad to see you guys are ok," Frankie said as he and the two other went and embraced their team mates.

"We're all glad you're ok," Cassandra said to the young mage-in-training.

"Yeah…so I guess you're going back?" Frankie asked them, each of them nodding their heads to show that they will go back.

"Count us in then!" Scott said enthusiastically. The group laughed as Elder E opened a portal for them, ushering the teens (and adults) into it. They began to step through the portal, but Mark was the last to step in. He turned, gave one last look at the home that he knew, smiled, then made a gesture with his hand.

"Later…" was the last word he had said before he stepped through the portal with E, knowin that he would never see the Earth that he knew anymore.

* * *

**And thus the Final Battle is done! Now for the EPilogue! And about Cerebus's name, it's derived from the Cerberus in Greek myth, and Erebus from Persona 3 FES, combining those two seemed epic to me. Oh and about Patriot...he's not just some random monster thrown in, he'll be a big part in another project i'm doing, trust me. Anyway, stay tuned for the last part of the story...and maybe an extra one too? who knows? **


	41. Epilogue

**Ok after much procrastination again, i managed to update this story. This here's the epilogue folks, we've reached the end..or have we? well anyway enjoy the story!**

* * *

**Epilogue**

_Mark's POV_

Five years passed since we beat Malgreed…five years huh? Hard to believe it was just yesterday me and my buds were playing Soul Calibur 4 and I lost as Siegfried. Thinking about that time now, had I not lived it, it would've sounded like I was crazy.

Five years passed, and my friends and I finally completed our training from Elder E, now we were collectively known as the Five Sages. We changed a lot, we grew stronger, faster, our elemental control improved greatly, but nothing like Master E could ever do. I was glad the training was over, because now I could go and begin my new life with Talim and her village, oh, I bet you're all wondering how that happened.

Well to be honest, after we beat Malgreed we returned to the temple for some rest after what happened, and for a few of us, a chance to enjoy being with the ones we love. Then we began to train more with Elder E, it took five years but soon we were finally masters and graduated his training, having nothing left to offer us.

"I guess this is where we must part…" I said as I turned to my friends, whom I had long since thought of as family.

"Yeah, but hey, we'll keep in touch, right?" Zach asked a she patted my back.

"Heh, yes, I hope you have a good life with Ivy," I said reassuringly.

"Oh I will, believe me," Zach grinned. The two of them hit it off after Malgreed's defeat, strangely Ivy took a liking to Zach for some reason, he planned on moving in with her after he finished training with us.

"Knowing you Zach, you would," Joseph said as he hefted Brionac on his shoulder. Joseph and Cassandra's relationship went well, it kinda reminded me of _Othello _a bit, well Joseph was now the most muscular of us and he and Cassandra together…well, it was obviously why. On another note, Sophitia was happy to have a brother in law and for her sister to finally have a man of her own.

"Joseph, you should show some more respect to your fellow peer, even if he can be a bit…never mind," Sosuke said as he came to us. Sosuke and Seong Mi-na kind of had a thing going on from what we knew, though Yun Seong had been jealous of what was going on and tried to take Mina form Sosuke. The young lightning adept let them be, apparent that what he would have would be a little crush, though considering what he told us, he said "it would be for the best," however, there was the fact that Taki, the ninja woman who was friends with Cassandra and Sophitia, had taken an interest in him.

"Say, where IS Talim?" I asked Sosuke. Talim and I kind of got off great once Malatos was gone, and our relationship went to the next level (I think you can guess what that meant) so after five years of being away from the village, we were going back. The guys did make some cracks about what to get for our wedding and if they were invited…well…they weren't wrong, see, I planned on proposing to Talim once we got back to her village and I met her folks, somehow Xianghua got wind and told everyone else, but they agreed to keep Talim out of it until I proposed.

"So when are you going to pop the question to Talim?" Joseph asked me again.

"I'll tell her when I'm ready, god man, give me a break," I explained to him.

"Ok ok, geez…" the lightning/ earth/ water sage looked at the Temple. "Hard to believe it's been five years since we first came here, we were only kids, now we're full grown, ready to take on the world," he smiled softly as he said this.

"Don't forget about what Malgreed…well Malatos, had told us when we fought him. Our future is what we really need to protect, and considering when we know, we can reshape the world with our actions here," I explained. I knew more than the others about what Malatos's words meant, since I technically was part of him at the time. I only told Elder E and Talim about it, but due to my slight inability to not keep secrets, a few of the others got wind of it too.

I only gave them bits of it, I didn't want to ruin their lives by telling them what I was told by Malgreed, E and Talim were enough, that would be all. Anyway, speaking of the wind priestess, she just so happened to come up towards us. Looking at her now, it was hard to believe that the former child priestess was now a beautiful young woman who could use Wind more efficiently.

"Again, you are so lucky to have her," Joseph smirked and nudged me. I smirked at him, he was right though, I was lucky to have her. That first night after the battle…I'll never forget it. It was after all, the first time me and Talim…well…'did it', mainly it was a spur of the moment, but it was all worth it after everything we went through.

Now it was graduation day, after five years, we managed to fully master our abilities, and more.

"My students…I could never be more proud of you, you showed me not only perseverance, but loyalty and honor, as well as self-control." E said as he looked at each of us. "You showed me you had courage, reliance, honor, loyalty, spirituality. At first, you didn't have any control over your powers…and most of you wanted to hurt each other…" E looked at us, I couldn't help but grin a bit at the many attempts of me trying to burn Joseph when he made some remarks about me.

"But despite your differences, and many problems, you all performed admirably, and when you fought Malatos and Malgreed, you proved to me you knew at you were doing, to that, I hereby congratulate all of you on passing my training, as of now, you are all officially 'Sages'" he said. He soon presented each of us a medal and a set of robes like his in different colors.

"the Sage of Fire…" he said, handing a red medal and a red hooded robe to me.

"The Sage of Water" he handed a blue medal and robe to Zach.

"The Sage of Earth…" he handed a yellow one set to Joseph, who smiled.

"The Sage of Wind…" he handed a green version to Talim, who bowed politely.

"And lastly…the Sage of Lightning…" he handed a white one to Sosuke, who nodded and bowed.

"Congratulations my students…you've all graduated" Elder E smiled happily, as to a father to his son. The rest of us looked at each other and we all high-fived one another happily.

* * *

After that day we all split away, Joseph and Cassandra and Sophitia to Greece, Frankie to Britain, Zach and Ivy back to her manor, and Sosuke to god knows where. As for myself, I went with Talim to her village, surprisingly they accepted me rather well, apparently word reached of what we did when the Broken Destiny sword was remade and we were celebrities for our actions in destroying it.

Anyway, meeting the family was interesting to say the least, they wanted to know a lot about me, our relationship, and about the others who were with us on our journey. I told them all that I knew, with Talim helping out of course to fill in the gaps I left out. They were surprised Talim could find somebody, especially someone who can use Wind like her. Actually they even gave us their blessings for when we got married, even though it was embarrassing to say the least, the thought of it reminded me of my proposal I wanted to make to Talim.

I kept hiding the proposal ring…mainly since I had no idea on how to propose to her. Around a few weeks went by until I decided to swallow my fears and propose, though I did it romantically. Firstly I chose a good spot to propose, which was the large windmill that Talim would regularly go to that showed the whole village.

Then I waited until it was the right time, around sunset to be precise, and made my way to the windmill, where I found her there, sitting by the edge of the wooden scaffolding, watching the view of her home with a smile. I went and hugged her from behind, hey I couldn't resist hugging her like that. Talim let out a yelp, but when she saw it was me she smiled and hugged back happily.

"It's beautiful up here, wouldn't you say?"she asked as I sat next to her.

"Yes…but not as beautiful as you," I smiled from how cheesy that saying was, but hey, this was my moment with her.

"Mark…about the proposal my parents suggested…" Talim began to say.

"I know…to be honest…I wanted to say something…" I said, taking a deep breath, "Talim, when we first met those years ago I was touched by your kindness and your willingness to help me return home, after what we all went through, I thought only of myself because of my history, but you didn't mind who I was and accepted me…I wanted to repay you somehow…then…I found a way…" I gulped and started pulling out the small black box in my pocket and held out the object inside it, a ring that I had managed to get after almost months gathering up my savings for it.

"I…I want you Talim" I panted a bit more and gulped, the words forming onto my lips and my courage finally showing itself, "W-Will you marry me?" I blurted out.

I waited for Talim to say something, well I did get a giggle from her and looked up, only to meet her lips against mine for a few minutes before we broke apart.

"I've waited five years for you to say that…of course I will," she said and nuzzled against me. For once, I was happy and embraced her, happy that she said yes.

* * *

The wedding occurred in a few weeks time, allowing my friends to stop by and visit for the wedding, I was more surprised by the gifts they got, though they do pale in comparison to the gadgets we had in our time, well, it's the thought that counts, right? Anyway the wedding itself was amazing, plus Talim in that dress was…breath taking to say the least.

I won't bore you all you details but we enjoyed the wedding a lot, simple as that.

* * *

Years passed for the group of adventurers, they eventually bore children who took after them, with Elder E helping the children understand their strange powers they wielded. The men and women who participated with Broken Destiny's destruction, now called 'The Warriors of the Soul Blades' or for six of them 'The Six Sages of the Elements', had gone around the world, changing lives, and history, with their actions.

Many feared and hated them, others were amazed and saw them as heroes, but for the Sage of fire, he knew what was to befall the Earth, and that's what they were trying to prevent form happening, by any means necessary.

* * *

"You do realize of course that no matter what they do, they cannot stop _his_ plans for that world, right?" a figure asked as it sat across a table with Elder E on the other end.

"I know, but at least they can change some events and try to help their world out," E said to the figure.

"still…should you have told them the truth? Unlike the fire sage, who knows what is to happen?" the figure shifted its left leg over it's right as it said this.

"Come now, they deserved this break, let them live out their lives some more before they are to face the inevitable," E stated to the figure.

The figure sighed, "Very well…but once they're ready we'll need your support for the war, Malgreed and the Broken Destiny may be gone, but we've only slowed down the flow of conflict, but now that they know of Falias's existence, you'll have to tell them the truth sometime…" the figure stated.

"I know this!" E roared, "Just leave those kids be," he stated.

"Very well…" the figure sighed, "I hope you know what you're doing…" the figure got up and left the hermit alone in the room. E sighed and wiped his forehead with his sleeve, the figure was right though, sooner or later they'll have to make a choice.

'_I only hope it's the right one…'_ he thought.

* * *

"So that explains it…" Thanatos said as he leaned against a stone wall with Cerebus resting next to him.

"_**Yes, our host is probably one of few who can stop that monster's plan for this world,"**_ it said as it shifted heads to make itself more comfortable.

"I still don't understand why until now that this kid was supposed to be here with the others if he's the one they need," Thanatos looked at the large starry sky above him.

"_**Just be glad he accepted both of us,"**_ Cerebus mumbled.

"Yeah…what do you think will happen when the kid kicks the bucket?" Thanatos asked Cerebus.

"_**Beats me…but all I know is that we're going to need to be prepared for the coming war, destroying Broken Destiny managed to stall them, but they'll get back on their feet soon, plus Malgreed was a possible traitor, he wanted Broken Destiny to use against his master's plans, but we put a stop to it and destroyed the sword"**_ Cerebus explained.

"But I guess that's not their objective then, huh?" Thanatos asked the wolf demon.

"_**Nope, I can sense the others…the other dark beasts like myself…"**_ Cerebus looked at the stars in the sky when he said this.

"Wait, there are others like you?" Thanatos asked.

"_**Yep, soon…soon I will see them again…either out there or in the World of Darkness…"**_ Cerebus said.

"Let's pray they're nice like you," Thanatos mumbled as he fell asleep.

Cerebus shook his head, "_**You wouldn't understand beasts like us…all humans think of us are monsters…"**_ he looked at the sky again, _**"I only hope that they don't end up screwing up the boy's plans…otherwise Earth's doomed…even though it's still going to be doomed either way,"**_ Cerebus muttered before sleep took over as well.

**The End?**

* * *

**And as much as i hate cliffhangers, this story is done. But what exactly is this war that everyone's afraid of? Well if you've been paying attention, then you should seen the signs that something big's gonna happen. But there's gonna be a possible spiritual sequel to this story in the later future. Well its basically my Ratchet/Ben 10 fanfic i got planned to possibly publish here, when idk, but i got my DOA fic as well as my Golden Sun story working on as well, so yeah. I don't know if i'll put my ratchet/ben 10 story up, but it will be up in due time.**

**Anyway, this is godofmadness43 and here is the final chap of my Soul Calibur story, hope you all enjoyed it, see you guys later!**


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